Thunk rubbed the side of his tankard as he thought for a moment. Looking back up at Dix he said, “The more I think about it, the more I realize he’ll be the perfect trainer for you. He’s a little bit of a hybrid himself, focusing on both ranged and melee combat. He won’t be able to help with the magic portion of your style, but he should know someone who can help you get that straightened out. The fact that he won’t get upset about your necromancy skills is a big plus as well. I’m not sure who he’ll want as your secondary trainer, as he’s odd enough to want to do it all by himself. Got the knowledge for it, so I suppose it’s not all bad.”

Dix, still dwelling on the warning he had received from Crossroads, asked, “Can I trust him? And with how much of my information?”

“Hmmm. Yeah, that’s a good question. Look, Error, that’s his name, is an odd one. He won’t sell secrets to anyone, or even reveal them by accident. However, if he ever gets hired for a job to take you out, he’ll abuse every single thing he knows about you. Between friends and money, he’ll always take the money, but only in regards to his chosen field of work. He’s an assassin, so that is the only area in which you will need to worry about him. Other than that, he’s a surprisingly cheerful layabout, with a lot of friends in odd places. Friends whose secrets he keeps. Friends who he can introduce you to, that can help you find work, gear, and money.

“Besides, most of the other trainers I know are only good for specific roles and classes. If you’re really dead set on this idiotic hybrid idea, then you’ll likely need to talk to some of them about getting a few different skills to truly round out your options.” Thunk wasn’t done fighting the hybrid issue, but he figured that between Error, a dose of reality from other trainers, and trying to gain a level solo the moron would come to his senses soon enough. Sure, getting rid of Channeling and Overload would be difficult, but with any luck they could find a way to evolve or upgrade those skills into something more useful once Dix finally had a good choice of role.

Dix worked through a few things in his head, trying to figure out his path forward. This Error sounded like an excellent idea for a trainer. If his normal line of work was assassination, then it was likely that he focused on high damage burst attacks, stealth, and maybe some poison. While none of these three things were what Dix was planning to focus on, they would still be excellent things to have knowledge and understanding of. If nothing else, they could help him avoid them all in the future. More importantly, he was excited to see what this man could teach him about the true main tools of an assassin, the things he really needed to get a handle on in this world: information, planning, patience, and choosing the right moment. Accepting that Error would make the best overall trainer he could find at the moment, Dix moved on to other things.

There were two areas that Dix thought he might need to seek training help outside of what Error could offer. One was whatever other skills he decided to pick up to round out his skills. The main problem with those skills was that he didn’t know what they were. Before he could get those skills he needed an education in what was available out there for him to learn. The other area was somewhat similar, and would likely have the same educational needs. He needed to know what other General skills he needed to obtain to be a successful adventurer.

It wasn’t that Dix had resigned himself to being an adventurer, or even that he really wanted to be one. He wasn’t even sure that adventurers were what they called themselves, or if they even existed in this world. In his mind adventurers were the handymen of combat. People who not only could, but would go just about anywhere to do just about anything for the right amount of money. Essentially mercenaries aimed more at the incredibly deadly wildlife than their fellow sentients, not that they couldn’t handle other people as well for the right price. The reason Dix was basing his educational advances on adventurers was that, if they did exist, they would be an operational standard on which to base his progress. If he could acquire all of the basic skills that an entire party of basic adventurers had, then he wouldn’t need that party. Basic adventurer skills would also empower him with the skills necessary to travel the world. The need to complete his given task may also have played a small part in deciding the direction of his future progress.

Just as he was about to ask Thunk for information on where to head next for what he needed, the dwarf stood up and motioned Dix to follow. “For now, I’ll head off to track down Error, but I need your permission to tell him about your Devouring Stride, or anything else for that matter. Will that be all right?”

“I assume this is some sort of priest secrecy thing?” At Thunk’s nod, Dix continued, “Sure, you can tell him whatever you want about my skills, as long as you don’t mention the Racials. In fact, leave my race out of it entirely. Name, class based and general skills, resistances, level, and being a new arrival. Think you’ll need anything else?”

Thunk shook his head before speaking, “In the meantime, you need to gain a level on your own. For that you’ll need weapons, armor, and a place to sleep. You can stay in the room you woke up in, any belongings will be safe there, and grab the morning meal served for the priests down the hall from there. As for weapons and armor,” Thunk stopped next to a door, throwing it open for Dix to peruse, “this armory is for Temple acolytes and the Classless orphans of the town. Most of the gear in here was donated, or purchased at discounted prices. It is mostly the work of apprentices, with a few experimental pieces from masters trying new things. Anything that is mostly functional, or too difficult to break back down into its component parts ends up here. Grab only what you need, you can reimburse the church once you start making money.

“The guards out front will guide you to the training dungeon in town. When you get tired of getting your ass kicked, the guards can direct you to the Training Annex of the Adventurer’s Guild where you can grab a team that can back you up while you work on gaining your first level. It shouldn’t take more than a week. Try not to die.” With that he stormed off, grumbling to himself. Dix was slightly at a loss as to why the dwarf was so disgruntled as he had thought their conversation had been going well. Shrugging, he stepped into the room to search for what he needed.

In the end it took him almost an hour to find what he both needed and would actually be able to use. Most of the armors were in pieces. As in there was a chestplate, but no back plate to attach to it, nor were the lower pieces that covered the rest of the torso anywhere to be found. Or a tiny sheet made of chainmail the size of a baby blanket. Obviously it was going to be something else, but had never been finished. A mismatch of leather pieces that looked like it came from eight different animals, fourteen different tanners, and thirty seven different leather workers was what he settled on for armor. It wasn’t pretty, but it fit. Mostly. All of the armor he had chosen strapped on above his clothes, covering almost his whole body except gaps at the joints, and his head, while still fitting under a dark grey duster he was quite fond of.

The selection of weapons was actually worse. Spearheads with no shafts, swords with unwrapped hilts, bows with no strings, and arrows with no fletching. The knives were actually the worst. Almost a quarter of the items in the armory were iron daggers, apparently just as much a staple of blacksmith’s apprentice’s training as books and video games had always suggested. Going through that pile to find a few decent blades took almost as long as finding all of the pieces to his jigsaw puzzle armor, but in the end he had almost a dozen blades that were usable. Two for fighting, and ten that, while they had obviously been intended to be fighting daggers, had been made far too narrow of blade to actually parry anything. They weren’t the most balanced knives he had ever used, but they were the best weapons for throwing in the whole room. Dix also located a solid, if ugly, hammer pick combo of the one handed variety, and an almost straight spear.

Despite the difficulties in finding weapons and armor that were functional and comfortable, Dix enjoyed digging through the armory. It almost felt like a mini adventure, or treasure hunt before he set out for the real thing. It even allowed him to acquire a few actual treasures. Buried under the pile of leather armor scraps, Dix had found a number of belts that he had thought were part of the armors. When he realized his mistake, he couldn’t be happier. The reality was that it must have been one of those experiments that Thunk had mentioned.

It was a backpack that was attached to a pair of crossed bandoliers and a heavy waist belt with a number of hooks and slots to secure weapons to. Opening the backpack actually revealed a number of sheaths designed to be secured to the belt and bandoliers, most of which were sized to hold knives of the throwing variety. Dix’s most recent acquisitions were a little snug, but still fit well enough, and his hammer had a thong that allowed it to hang at just the right height. There were also a number of attachments for the harness that looked to be sized to hold either throwing spikes or potions, perfect for any adventurer. It even had a couple of pieces that attached to the harness that held light stones, enchanted stones that worked much like a flashlight. He figured them out by accidentally pressing against them while they were still in the bag, almost blinding himself with the resulting flash of light.

Looking closely, Dix finally figured out why this wonderful item was here. There was a large ring that was located just above the center crossing of the bandoliers that he originally thought was just a vanity accessory. In fact, it was designed to be a quick release for the backpack. The pack was set on hooks on the back of the harness, and the ring was set to pull the pack up and off the hooks, allowing it to drop to the ground, but leave the harness and all its genius attachments in place. The problem was the latching system used to keep the backpack from falling off the hooks during movement was also keeping the quick release from functioning. After some study, and a couple of experiments of his own, Dix carefully sliced the latching system apart, and tied a few leather thongs to select sections of the quick release system. This kept the pack from rising above the knots he had tied in the thongs, while another one forced the release to pull the pack out away from his body, allowing it to drop free when the release was pulled. Now he could quickly drop his pack during a fight so that he wasn’t impeded. Maybe he could eventually figure out who designed his new pack, and show them his quick fix. Likely, it could become a staple of adventurers once it was working properly.

When Dix finally left the cathedral out the front door he was astounded at what lay before him. He had been expecting the stereotypical medieval village, but this place was nothing like that. The buildings weren’t stone and thatch, or even mud huts. Instead they looked to be an eclectic mix of stone mini castles, and almost modern wooden houses. Roofing was much the same, having everything from clay tiles, to cedar shingles, to slate, and everything in between. There were even a few buildings made entirely out of what looked to be metal. As he eventually started getting used to the variety he was staring at, he finally noticed that what he thought were just fat trees in parks were also houses, or house trees.

When he finally had the ability to look elsewhere, he looked to the people and his jaw dropped. It’s like Whitesnake threw an anime themed rave. Everywhere he looked he saw catgirls, elves, huge varieties of hair colors, and tight leather pants. Fans of eighties rocker fashion or anime would be in heaven. Looking at the view he was enjoying, Dix was having a hard time disagreeing with any of them. Of course there were more than just scantily clad women around, and Dix did eventually notice the men and women intermixed amongst the more visually appealing treats.

Fashion seemed to be a mix between three styles. The basic, and most numerous, style consisted of what could pass for tougher work clothes for anyone doing manual labor. Heavier woven shirts and pants, leather vests, and a form of leather pant overlays that were reminiscent of chaps. Headwear was varied and optional, but did include the standard wide brimmed cowboy hat. Second in terms of popularity were the people attending the local version of a Whitesnake concert. These people, male and female, were dressed to entice. Clothing was either tight to accentuate, translucent to expose, or most often both. Dix hazarded a guess that any culture that accepted and exonerated Lust as a goddess was far more open about sex, and all things related.

The third style Dix decided to call ‘Stab you in the Face’ for obvious reasons. It was a group he fit within almost perfectly at the moment. These people were obviously adventurers. Their armor and weapons were mismatched, heavily used, and well cared for. These were people who lived and died by their equipment. The way they watched their surroundings as they moved through the town was indicative of those who fought for their lives. Some were arrogant, striding through the masses as though they were above them. Others staggered along, drunk on booze or high on drugs, loss hidden behind the artificially gleeful faces. There were even periodic glimpses of those who skulked in the shadows, showing themselves more to remind others that their kind existed than to instill fear, although that was part of it as well. Even mages could be seen strolling the streets in brightly colored robes carrying staves topped with precious stones and often followed by a menagerie of elemental familiars in the forms of animals, birds, and exotic creatures.

After a time Dix became aware of the guards standing to either side of the cathedral entrance at the top of the stairs. Looking to one of them he just shrugged, then approached to ask his questions. “Thunk said to ask you guys about a couple things. First, do you need to take a list of what I grabbed from the armory?” When the guard shook his head, he just nodded in return, and pressed on. “OK. Can you point me in the direction of the training dungeon, along with any tips you think are necessary?”

The guard walked Dix through the instructions on how to get to the dungeon, which was actually just two streets away. His advice was a short run down on how to use Appraisal, along with insisting that he actually use it before he attacked anything. The anecdote about a trainee that always attacked first and appraised after, left the other guard laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. When he stopped laughing, the second guard recommended that he check the board at the entrance to the dungeon for the gathering requests from local vendors. Most of the requests would be for certain items that could be easily retrieved from the corpses, and didn’t need any special harvesting abilities or tools, just a pack to store them in. The guards at the bottom of the stairs didn’t have anything particular to add, so Dix headed out.

Being down at street level with everyone allowed Dix the chance to appreciate the diversity of the people in the town he found himself in. Most of the fantastical races he had ever heard of, as well as a significant number more, were represented amongst the populace, even in his short walk. Thinking back to the Tablet of the Origin of Species, he was curious if each different ‘breed’ of cat girl represented a different race, or if they were all one. It wasn’t just cat girls either. Elves, orcs, and dwarves were the most traditional species he saw. Beast kin encompassed just about every animal type he had ever heard of, or at least the ones that he saw indicated a huge variety. And it wasn’t just mammals, there were birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Even marsupials if the kangaroo person he saw was any indication. There were also a number of Beastkin he had no idea how to classify.

Then there were the other people. He didn’t even have words for most of them, and didn’t feel like insulting them by asking. Some were either mixed breeds of beast kin, or something else altogether. A reptilian humanoid with feathered wings. A snake fanged, lion headed person with a mass of tentacles for legs. Slime people. Things that he was fairly certain were demons, but could he really trust religion from another world to correctly identify people they had never seen? There were people that made some of the creations of science fiction movies seem tame, although he did periodically check around him for a cantina with weird music, and weirder people.

As Dix strolled down the street headed for the dungeon he tried to keep his curiosity under control. It wouldn’t do to stare at all the strange new people, no matter how enticingly sexy some of them were.