“I hit Level 10,” I tell Tyr.

“Congrats,” he is focused on the chess board.

He’s playing a squirrel. I have no idea why he’s playing a squirrel, but he is.

The last two weeks, I’ve managed to be able to kill the Horned Rabbits, but skinning them is beyond me. Just killing them was hard, in the beginning. Not that they’d hurt me, and Tyr healed my wounds when they did, but I kept freaking out. After a few kills, it started to get easier. It’s not like I was killing people.

Plus, I kind of want to try Horned Rabbit Meat, because Tyr mentioned that it tastes good. I still can’t skint hem, though. I tried earlier, and freaked out.

“You took on Squire?” He asks.

“Yeah.”

“Not Rogue?”

“I’ll do that or Thief II next time,” I say. “Depending on if I have Thief II or not. I still want to be a knight, even if it’ll take me more work, but the rogue stuff is nice, too. Speed is definitely good.”

He smiles at me.

“What?” I ask.

“You,” he answers. “You actually made decisions for yourself.”

“Well, yeah,” I say. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Colt,” he stands up and walks over to me, looking me dead in the eye. “When you first arrived, you would do whatever I suggested you do. That’s why I wouldn’t give you my recommendation, when it came to your Class.

“Also,” he says. “I like your plan, though it’s generally better to focus on one set in the beginning. Yes, taking on both will improve both your speed and your strength and durability, but for now, it’s better to only focus on one of those, until you’re more experienced. Right now, you’ll get stronger slower this way. Later, it’s beneficial because with how many of stat points you have, you’ll be hard-pressed to naturally-train them. I’m sure you’re already noticing the block… Colt?”

“Yes?”

“Why haven’t you allocated any of your stat points from Levels yet?”

“Wouldn’t that make it harder to train them naturally?”

“Well,” he holds up a finger, then pauses, his mouth opening and closing several times. “You have a good point. Actually, that’s a really good point. Most people don’t really hoard their points, because they’re not being trained by a god in a safe environment. Usually, the ones who want to cheap-out on Experience and not do Dungeons and stuff typically kill the weakest monsters they can get Experience from over and over, since they just respawn.”

“Are there any Skills I can learn for combat?” I ask.

“All Skills fall into two categories,” he says. “The first is magical – but really, only magicians and certain few other Skills use that. The second are auric in nature. Typically, someone starts off with 1 Mana or Aura, then increase it through training and meditation. Starting off with 2 means you’re a genius, and starting off with 3 in one of them means you’re a natural prodigy. Typically, if you start off with more than 1 Mana or Aura, it’s only for one of them. Rare is the person who has more than 1 Point in both.”

“So what does that make me?” I ask.

“Unheard of,” he says simply. “That’s part of why I decided to offer you access – your base for both is 4 Points. There’s only ever been six people who’ve had points in both, and a separate who had four in one. Do you want a bagel?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Okay,” he says. “For you, learning auric techniques would be better, because you’re a melee Class person. I will tell you this: it is incredibly difficult to learn either to any degree of mastery, and learning both will only hinder you, because you’ll be less multi-purpose than you would be if you just focused on one. Both areas would be weaker. There’s only one person in the world who has true mastery in both, and he isn’t someone you can just fight. He’s akin to a god.”

“A god?” I ask. “Like you?”

“Indeed,” he nods. “He’s not a god, though, but compared to any other person, he’s one. He’s focused on training his aura and magic to the point of neglecting his Levels, but he’s still the most dangerous person you’d ever meet.”

“Okay,” I say, then pull up my stats. “How come my Mana and Aura don’t go up with my Levels? In every video game I’ve ever seen, stuff like that would increase as the Level went up.”

Not that I got to play them, or anything. I wasn’t allowed to touch the games and stuff.

“That’s easy,” he says. “They only increase through training, so your Level isn’t a good gauge of your pools. I will tell you this: Aura will always increase at a faster rate than Mana, simply because Aura is something that continues to be used as you use it, while Mana, the bulk of the cost is when you actually cast the spell, then it’s a minor sustain cost to keep it running, in most cases. Aura Skills are generally ones you have to spend the same amount of the resource to keep open. Does that make sense?”

I think so. Spells use up Mana mostly in their casting itself, not in sustaining them, and most are instant. Aura techniques, the Aura has to continue to be used to sustain the technique.

“Yeah,” I say. “So I should learn Aura, then.”

“It’s what’s better-suited to the Classes you’ve chosen to take on, yes.”

“Can you teach me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“In all honesty?” He asks, and I give him a stare that says that that should have been obvious. “When it comes to Aura, you have to find your own way. I can teach you the basics, but beyond that, everything is reliant on you. Yes, there are set Skills for it you can learn – many of which help will help your chosen Classes – but for each person, it’s also unique. What’s good for one person isn’t necessarily good for his identical twin.”

“I don’t have an identical twin.”

“I know,” he sighs. “Just using that as an example – identical twins even have different aura techniques. Same with magic – it falls into six categories: fire, water, stone, air, light, and shadow.

“As a god,” he plops on his butt and stares up at the sky. “And particularly, the one who created the System, I know every style and form of Aura technique in existence. I could teach you any technique you wanted to learn. I could teach you the best ones for you, even. The thing is – unless you discover it for yourself, you’ll be weaker with it. That’s not very fun at all. At most, I can guide you into how to increase your Aura pool. To learn how to wield your Aura, though, you’d need to find a master.”

In other words – I’d need to leave here. Tyr looks sad at that thought.

“You don’t want me to leave.”

“Of course not!” He throws himself at me in a hug. “It’s not every day I find someone I can play with! Most people can sense that I’m a god, and they just go into a bow of reverence or fear or something! You couldn’t, mostly because you’re not from this world, but even after you found out I was a god, you were cool with it and didn’t show me any of that respect! The other gods won’t even play with me, because I’m too much for them to handle! They don’t think everything should be fun and games!”

It takes me awhile to calm Tyr down, and I end up having to take him to his room to sleep. I make my way to the bath to soak for a bit, then to the dining hall for dinner. After dinner, I check on Tyr, and freeze in place when I see him.

He’s… no longer a kid around my age. He looks six, now, and he’s wearing dinosaur pajamas, is curled up under the blanket, and has his thumb in his mouth. That’s really adorable. Does he turn into a younger kid when he’s sleeping?

I make my way to bed and think about what he said. He’s lonely, and probably can’t leave this abandoned kingdom because of his divine nature. He’s right in that I can’t sense his divine aura – which he says everyone born into this world can. He’s told me that before.

When he intentionally released it so I could feel it, it was the most amazing thing I’d ever felt in my life. It was an aura of authority and power and of something from an entirely different realm. I could feel the touch of fun and games in his divine aura, as well as mysteries and riddles, hopes, and dreams, and pure imagination itself.

Even though I knew it was a god’s aura, I know that, had I not known then, I would’ve known then that he was as god.

To be a being that invokes such a feeling of fear and worship in people must be really lonely, especially if the other gods won’t play with you because you like games too much.

I want to leave here, so I can get stronger, but at the same time, I don’t want to leave him all by his lonesome. Part of the reason I left town to kill monsters the first time – even though I wasn’t sure if I could or not – was because he kept wanting to play games and turn training into a game. Training is fun, the way he does it, but sometimes, there’s a thing as too much fun.

Tyr understands that, and that’s why he doesn’t try to follow me out or anything. I mean, he does sometimes, and turns it into a game, but when I want some space, he gives it to me.

It takes me a long time to fall asleep, and when I wake up, there’s a weight on my chest. Opening my eyes, I look down and find younger-Tyr sleeping with me, his torso on my chest, one arm wrapped around me, the other sitting by my head. There’s a teddy bear squished between us, giving me a look like ‘seriously?’, and I try not to laugh at that.

“Tyr?” I gently shake him until he wakes up. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he says quietly. He looks sad. “You… you can’t teleport directly to other towns unless you’ve been in them before, so once you leave here, you can always return from the warp area. I don’t want you to go!”

He squeezes me in a tight hug, and I can tell he’s trying not to cry. Is this what happens when he starts to get sad?

“I never said I was going to leave,” I tell him.

“But you’re going to have to!” He does start crying. “You can’t stay here forever to get strong! You already have to go to the edge of the woods just to find Horned Rabbits that will give you Experience! Then, you’ll be going into the woods and Dungeons! You’ll be gone all the time to get stronger! You want to be a knight! You have to leave! I don’t want you to go, but you have to!”

“I can stay a little longer,” I ruffle his hair.

“No!” He whines. “You have to leave today!”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because if you don’t, you’ll keep coming up with excuses to stay and play with me!” He cries. “You would never meet your dream of becoming a knight! I-I-I-I want you to leave, Colt! I want you to leave and get stronger and have lots of fun and make lots of friends! I-I can get an airship ready to take you to Loritar, the city with the towers! It’s-it’s the cheap way of getting there, and you wouldn’t get any Experience, but you wouldn’t take as long and risk dying or being robbered!”

Robbered?

“Tyr,” I rub his back, hoping to calm him down. “I can stay a little longer.”

“But you want to get stronger!” He says. “I can’t teach you aura! If you go to Loritar, you’ll probably find someone who can guide you! A real master! And you’ll make friends and not be stuck with just one person and the animals!”

“Tyr-”

Quest: Tower of Aura I

Battle it out in the Tower of Aura

Requirement: Pass Floor 50 in the Tower of Aura

Reward: 50 Experience, 50 silver

“In the Tower,” he sniffles. “There are two hundred fifty-one Floors. Until Floor 200, you have to win seven battles without losing three on a Floor to move on to the next Floor. You can only use martial arts until Floor 200. The higher up you go, the far tougher the enemies get. At Floor 200, you can start using Aura techniques. After Floor 50, you start earning money after a win. After Floor 100, they give you your own quarters in the Tower. After Floor 150, you can start using weapons. After Floor 200, you have to win ten battles to move to the next Floor, and if you lose three, you get bumped down. You can’t get bumped down to the previous set of 10 Floors from there. If you lose three fights on any of the tenth Floors, you stay there, and your wins reset. If you lose three twice in a row on a multiple of ten, or get bumped to the same one twice, you get bumped down to Floor 1.

“After Floor 240,” he continues. This… is a lot to take in, but I don’t want to stop him, or he might break out into a full-on bawl. “You’re not fighting regular people, you’re fighting Challenge Fighters. There’s one for each Floor. You can either fight one five times, and win at least three times, and you’ll become the new Challenge Fighter for that Floor, or you can move on to the next Floor. All Battles from there on up are on consecutive days. If you beat all ten of those Floors, you can challenge the Tower Champion, which will be the next day. Don’t fight him, though! He’s the Godly Human I told you about! He’d win in an instant!”

“Okay,” I rub his back. “Can you calm down a little, Tyr?”

“I’m just so sad,” he sniffles. “I knew you’d have to leave, and it’s been weeks since you got here, but it’s so fun, playing games with you. Come back, you hear?”

“I will,” I tell him. “Playing with you is fun, Tyr, even if I lose most of the time. I’ve never had someone to play with, before.”

“You’ll make new friends,” he sniffles. “Lots of new friends! Have lots of fun, okay! Just-just don’t forget to come back and visit me, okay? It doesn’t have be all the time!”

“I’ll visit you,” I tell him, then register something he said. “At Floor 240 and above, you have to fight every day?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “Starting, you can be called up to three times in a day, depending on how able you are to advance. At Floor 50, it’s four times a day. At Floor 100, it’s five times a day. At Floor 200, you just have to register to fight. You have one month to register, and you have one month from when you register to when you have to fight. You can either let them pick a day, or you can pick the day.”

“What happens if you don’t register?”

“It counts as three losses,” he answers. “While simply not showing up to a fight counts as one. You have one month after a battle to register for the next fight, whether you won or lost or even showed up. Please don’t do anything stupid and get hurt real bad or killed, okay! Just… just fight in the Tower and get stronger and have lots of fun! Promise me that!”

“Okay, Tyr,” I respond. “I will.

“You should go now,” he suddenly lets go of me and starts pushing me off the bed. “Go to the airship port at the eastern part of the city. The ship will fly itself there, then return here after you get off. Go!”

“Tyr-”

“Go!” He insists. “I dun wanna see you until you’re stronger! I dun wanna cry in front of you no more!”

I give him a hug, then tell him that I should at least eat breakfast before I leave.

“Oh, right,” he blushes, wiping his tears and looking into my eyes. “You should never start a journey on an empty stomach. That’s not fun!”