Training with his father in the morning has quickly become an exciting way to start the day. Miles enjoyed the thrill of every thrust, deflection, parry. The reverberations in the wood of the spear with each impact, and the feeling of growth with each use of his skills put a smile on his face. Though actually getting hit hurt a lot, everything else more than made up the difference. His father, since unlocking his spear skills, had been pushing him to his limits to level them up.

They faced each other, Miles breathing hard. His father had been right, he had gotten used to using Thrust and his limbs no longer shook afterwards. He had used it another 3 times, and he was just fine. It made their spars all the funner! His father called for a stop.

“We need to get you some more specific fighting skills. You’ve done a good job, trying to get in a counter strike when you deflect my spear. As you do this, try to get it down to one fluid motion. I’ve noticed you would smack my spear, then pull back to make a strike. That gives me time to block. We’ll focus on this from now on in our spars. With time, you should get the skills Parry, and Riposte. Once you get those, we can move on to other active skills.”

New skills to learn! “Awesome!”

Dings ringed in his mind, and Miles checked the notifications.

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New Quest: Parry This!

Task: Learn Parry.

Time Limit: one week.

Reward: +1 ALA.

Penalty: Quest failure.

Spearmanship gained 5 levels. +5 EXP

Footwork gained 4 levels. +4 EXP

Thrust gained 5 levels. +5 EXP

Miles kinda freaked out, jumping in excitement. “Dad! Dad, I got a new quest! Learn parry within a week, and I get a point in Alacrity!”

“That’s great, Miles!”

He checked the rest of his notifications. No new skills or anything, but Miles was happy with the progress he was making. Even more so, with the quest. The level gains in his skills were pretty good! These early levels were always fun to train, it was when they got up to level 30, 40 and higher that they slowed down. Like his Running skill, it had taken him a while to level that up. He took a look at his skills.

Favored Skills:

Running 0th 49

Tumbling 0th 31

Jumping 0th 23

Spearmanship 0th 17

Footwork 0th 15

Thrust 0th 11

Skills:

Cleaning 0th 15

History of The First Empire 0th 5

Standard Language 0th 18

Empirical Language 0th 14

Mathematics 0th 23

Stealth 0th 1

He was quite proud of the skills that he had gotten, but from all the other skills he has heard about, and from all the ones he’s currently trying to get, he still had a lot more to learn. He wanted to learn all of them!

“It was good that you got Stealth already. I was going to teach you something like it throughout this week, but now we can focus on your ripostes!” His Dad was saying, filling his cup from a bucket. “Stealth, plus your other movement skills, make for a good skill set for hunting. I was planning on taking you out to the Brasswood next month, but with that quest you have now, I’m thinking we should go sooner rather than later. How about we go this weekend?”

“Oh yeah! Mom told me that there’s a lot of skills to learn out in the woods!”

“That’s not all, there’s monsters to kill!” Miles’s smiles dropped from his face.

“Uh… “ butterflies bounced around his stomach, imagining large beasts. “What kind of monsters?”

His Dad ruffled his hair, “don’t you worry, Miles. It's only a Tier 2 forest, there won’t be anything we can’t handle as long as we don’t go too deep. The worst we will have to look for are the Steel wolves, and they’re nothing compared to me. We’ll start out with hunting natural animals, like the horned rabbit, dear, or boar. Then we’ll hunt goblins. But until then, no more using Thrust in our spars. You need to recover some of your Stamina.”

“What! But I still have a lot left!” but he liked using that skill! His Dad shook his head.

“You need as much Stamina as you can get when you head into the woods. You never know what might happen. And you’re getting close to half. Should an incident happen, you always want enough of your resources to handle anything. That’s why Meditation is important. Speaking of, let’s practice.” They sat down together to practice.

Breath in, breath out. In. Out. Sigh.

~~~

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Skills

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[Notices]

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Standard Language gained 1 level. +1 EXP

Empirical Language gained 1 level. +1 EXP

Mathematics gained 1 level. +1 EXP

History of The First Empire gained 1 level. +1 EXP

He sat back in relief. Math was hard. At least history is pretty cool. Miss Rowvyre told it as a story, which was much better than what was in the history textbook. After a small break, they returned for the next lesson. But for some reason after the break, they didn’t meet back at the library, but outside in the gardens in the gazebo. On a table placed there, there was a set of colored paints and brushes.

“Today, we’ll be learning some astronomy!” Miss Rowvyre declared. “Specifically about the timekeeping moons.” She passed out a paper to both of them, which had outlined drawings of all 13 moons. “You can color these in, in the colors of the moons, as we talk about them!” Miles looked up into the sky. He saw several moons, but a lot were missing. There was a white moon in the middle of the southern sky; a light grey and white moon high in Eastern sky; a dark grey moon high in the Western sky; and a dull yellow moon high in the Northwestern sky. He only knew the names of Veca, Atepa, and Borili, but none of them were currently in the sky. Atepa had just set yesterday, and wouldn’t rise again until next week. Borili had been gone for a long time now. He only knew the name because there was going to be a tournament soon.

“There are a total of 13 moons. Because of their regularity, there are many fairy tales and stories, and even religions and cults that follow the moons. Of course, what is important is that many of them follow precise measurements of time. We use them to track the years and ages. Now, let’s start with the moons that are currently in the sky and we’ll go from there.” She pointed to the white moon in the southern sky. “That is the moon Nikos. It has a 200 year cycle, where it is in the sky for 100 years and gone for 100. It’s one of the timekeeping moons, marking the passage of the centuries with its risings and settings. What’s interesting about Nikos is that every 6 years, there’s a month-long pulse of blue light. This causes a harsh winter, even if it happens during the summer months.”

Even during summer? How does that work?

She continued, “some astrologists and mages claim that the light comes from a vast amount of mure ice mana.”

She pointed to the light grey moon in the eastern sky, it looked like a cat’s eye. “That moon is Aisa. It has a 1,000 year cycle, where it’s in the sky for 500 years and gone for 500. One way to remember that this is Aisa is that it looks like an eye. ‘Eye’ for ‘Ai’-sa”

She pointed to the dull yellow moon in the northwestern sky. “That is the moon Giannis. It is in the sky for 10,000 years at a time, and gone for 10,000 years. This is another timekeeping moon, marking the passing of the ages.”

She pointed to the dark grey moon in the western sky. “That is the moon Yana. The moon that marks the millennium. It stays in the sky for 1,000 years, and is gone for 1,000.” That was all the visible moons at the moment.

“There are still 9 more moons. Let's start with the fastest one. Veca, the silvery-blue that comes out every night.”

Just then Gudulli came out from the door to the inner courtyard. “Excuse me, Miss Rowvyre, Lady Waesdove has called for Miles.”

Miss Rowvyre dismissed him. “You can go, Miles. You can finish painting when you come back.”

So he followed Uncle Dulli back inside, through the inner courtyard and into the main atrium. There, they went upstairs. Miles had never been up here before. All the offices and important stuff happened here. Uncle Dulli led them down the hallway to the left and to a beautiful door. “Lady Waesdove? Miles has arrived.”

“Come in” A voice said from inside. They entered the office. The room was by a large dark wood desk, covered in papers, and bookshelves. Sitting behind the desk was Lady Waesdove, but what Miles didn’t expect was his father sitting there as well. He nervously looked at his Dad, hoping to see what was going on. He gave him a reassuring nod. Lady Waesdove herself looked like an older Aila, with the same hair, eyes, and everything. The few times he met Aila’s Mom, she seemed nice and warm. But now, she seemed very stern. He gulped. “Miles, please sit down.” He sat down, and Uncle Dulli left, closing the door behind him. “I’ve heard from your father that you wish to join Aila in her resistance training. Do you understand what that means?”

He had some ideas. I mean, I get hit a lot in spear training, can’t be that different. Right? “I think so. I get hit a lot in sparring, so I’m used to it.” Both his father and Lady Waesdove only shook their heads.

“I’m afraid training a resistance skill is on a different level, Son.” His father said. That doesn’t sound good.

“Here’s the problem, Miles.” said Lady Waesdove, “Aila, as a noble in the Waesdove family, needs to complete a certain training regime to ensure a powerful class. Otherwise she’ll be torn apart in the courts, and her future will be ruined. She’s already having a hard enough time. If she sees a friend join, only to quit part way through, her resolve will falter. I cannot allow that. So here’s the deal.” She paused, looking to his father for confirmation, who nodded. “I will test you. Give me your hand, and I will shock you at the same level as the training. If you are still committed to follow through to the end, then I’ll allow it. Though be warned. If afterwards you choose to join, you cannot withdraw.”

Miles blanched, this was a far bigger ordeal than he had thought. But if I join and stay, it would help. Right? Aila was his best friend, so he wanted to do what he could to help. He nodded and gave her his hand.

“Now, Miles,” She said, holding his hand. “None of this means that I don’t want you to be Aila’s friend or that I don’t care for you. None of that is true. I care a great deal for you and your family. In all honesty, this training will be beneficial to you in the long run as well, but it’s not for everyone. Are you ready?” He nodded. His father moved next to him, ready to lend support.

Her hands flared to life, thin arcs of lighting coming off of them. Immediately, pain overwhelmed him, his hands were burning. For a moment his entire body was locked in seizures so he couldn’t even scream. Only a muffled groan could escape. Miles could feel the flesh on his hands char and peel off. When it eased off a bit, his scream ripped free.

Eventually, after over 20% of his health was gone, the lightning stopped. His arms had lost a lot of their feeling, and was left weeping and gasping in his father’s arms. A cool, soothing feeling replaced the pain. Miles looked, and Lady Waesdove was healing him.

His health back to full, the burned arms healed, all that was left of the experience was a faint trembling and the tear streaks on his cheeks. Gods give me strength, that was the worst! How does Aila go through with that? Because she has to. Why?

“Why does she have to do all this?” He asked.

His Dad answered. “Politics. Assassins, social shaming, because the world is a cruel and dangerous place. There are many evil people out there who would seek to destroy you and everything you care about. Either that, or powerful monsters that come out of nowhere. Aila, as a noble’s daughter, needs to be extra careful. Many who dislike her parents would strike at her to spite them. She needs to be ready when that happens. And so will you. To have the strength to protect what and who you love.” His Dad took a deep breath. “When I was your age, I didn’t want to train as hard as my father wanted, and as a result I was left with the common Warrior class. When disaster struck, I did not have the strength to save a good friend of mine. It was then that I pushed myself to train harder, unlocking the rare class Guardian Spear. Miles, you are already on your way to earn the uncommon class of Spearman, possibly even a rare type class. But push yourself just a little further and you are ensured a rare class. This will be hard, but it's a good opportunity. Pain Resistance and a magic type resistance can be huge boons.”

His Dad released him, and looked him in the eye. “But this is above and beyond. It will certainly bring benefits, but I don’t want you to feel like anyone is pushing you to do this. Either way, your Mom and I will support you.”

It was a way out. He wasn’t expecting it to hurt that bad, and it scared him. But… he wanted to go through with it, to both support Aila and get the skills.

“I’ll do it.”

New Quest: Lightning Friends!

Together with your friend Aila, you’ll be undergoing a burdensome training to gain Lightning Resistance and Pain Resistance. It's a long road but a beneficial one. Reach the Tier 0 cap in Lightning Resistance together with Aila.

Task: Get Lightning Resistance capped before reaching Tier 1.

Restrictions: Cap the skill before Tier 1.

Reward: a Lightning based skill.

This was one quest he wasn’t excited to complete.

~~~

When Miles was no longer shaky and pale, he rejoined Aila out in the gardens. Miss Rowvyre was gone and classes were over already so Aila was drawing in her sketchbook, using the colored paints and inks. She didn’t notice him until he was right next to her. He looked over her shoulder, and saw three stick figures holding hands with a bunch of moons in the sky.

“What’s that?” he asked.

She jumped with a squeak. “Miles!” She punched his arm. “Don’t do that!” He laughed, sitting down at the table. “Anyway, look.” She held up the paper for him to see. “It's my family, with all the moons! I think I'm getting close to a drawing skill.”

“Cool! What other skills are you trying to get?”

“Well, I’m trying to learn some more magic spells! Mother’s been teaching me a lot about lightning magic. It’s really hard, and I still haven’t gotten a spell yet, but it's really cool!”

“Speaking of lightning magic, I’m going to join you in the resistance training.”

“What? Why?” She looked shocked. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Well, I just thought that if you had a friend, it would be a little bit easier. Plus I can get the resistance skills too!” Wait, why is she going to cry? She blinked back tears and pursed her lips, focusing in on something in front of her. Was she looking at her status screen?

She had just gotten a new quest, the Lightning Friends, as well. She had to cap the resistance anyway, but now she had a whole other reason to do it now! A new lightning spell would be a huge blessing. That, plus having a friend such as Miles there was already helping, though she did feel a bit guilty that he was joining in for her. It was super painful.

After that, they had a bit of free time before the training began. They kept playing in the gardens, climbing up the tree, and running around. Aila had some fun making Miles try to get that Noble’s Posture again, placing a book on his head and making him walk down the hallway. Since it was too easy for him, Aila made him try to run with the book, which made it fall. She laughed at him.

“Well, why don’t you do it then!” He fumed.

“Watch a pro do it!” She placed the book on her own head to run down the hallway. It fell.

“Ha! You couldn’t do it either!”

“Well, at least I lasted longer than you!”

“Nuh uh! I got to at least the flower pot!”

“No you didn’t! It fell way before that!”

This sparked a competition between them to see who could keep the book on their head the longest while running. At least, until Uncle Dulli walked by and warned them to not run in the hallway. It ended with Aila having gotten the furthest. Maybe that Noble’s Posture helped out a lot. The rest of the time was spent playing a board game. Surprisingly, this made Footwork go up.

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Footwork gained 2 levels. +2 EXP

Jumping gained 1 level. +1 EXP

Tumbling gained 1 level. +1 EXP

~~~

Lady Waesdove led Miles and Aila downstairs into the basement, followed by his father. Miles had never been down here before, so he was looking around curiously. Downstairs had one long hallway, with a lot of doors on either side, and ended in large double doors. “Lady Waesdove, what’s down here?” He asked, not being able to see into any of the doors.

“Down here we have our family’s personal studies and labs for our magical research.” She stopped at one door to the left. “This room will be Aila’s once she becomes a mage.” He looked inside. It had one wall lined with a counter, kind of like a kitchen, and the other had a wall of empty bookshelves and a desk. “At the end of the hall, we have a training room for practicing any magic spells. That’s where we’ll be doing the resistance training.” They entered through the large double doors into a spacious room. It was mostly empty, except for a couple of targets on one end, and a circle drawn on the floor to mark a small arena.

“Okay, Miles. Getting a resistance skill is rather difficult. It requires consistent, prolonged exposure to the type of damage you’re getting the resistance to. The way we will be doing the resistance training will be similar to how we did it in the office. I will hold your hand and shock you with lightning magic. Now, because you don’t have the skill yet, we will pause and heal every 10% of your health. We do these short intervals so we don’t lose out on any levels for your skills. I will be watching closely, to not overdo it. Once you get the skills you have the option to continue at 10% intervals, or we can go at a faster pace with 50% intervals.”

“What? Why would you choose to take 50% of your health?”

“Resistance skills gain experience and levels depending on how much damage to take. With the 50% intervals, you would increase your pain and lightning resistances much faster. Our goal is to complete Tier 0 in one year, so Aila has chosen to do the 50% intervals.” Miles looked at Aila. Dang, she’s tough. He remembered how much just 20% hurt. Lightning was no joke.

“Ok, then I’ll do that too.” He said. It would be better to get it over with as soon as possible.

“Then let us begin.” Miles, Aila, and Lady Waesdove all joined hands, making a small circle. Lightning crackled and they both collapsed screaming.