James stepped into Astral Space and looked around. The area was clear of any creatures, and he could see no threats. Putting his Astral Anchor in place, he focused on his new destination. A small town called Milgarden. He knew that it was about two hours away and that the village was near the river. That was enough for him to zero in on the village and sense the pull toward it. Having activated Alter Self II, Mental Shield - Iron I and Augment Ability I for a +10 to Intelligence, James felt he was ready and moved towards the town as quickly as he could.

The journey was a lot shorter than his trip from the first village to the temple. Fortunately, it was also peaceful, and he didn't encounter anything along the way. When he arrived, he made sure to take a couple of steps away from the town and step back into real space.

&&&&& REAL SPACE &&&&&

James arrived in the middle of a clearing not far from the village. Looking around, he saw some plumes of smoke drifting over the trees. A few moments later, Rocko joined him.

Pointing at the plumes of smoke, "I think the village is that way," James offered.

"Excellent. We will head that way, and we can get our bearings. There is a quest in the town you have to get before you can do it, so we will get that first. Then head to the area with the dungeon. Clear the area around it, complete the quest and then move into the dungeon. We have to make sure that no one sees you thought." Rocko started walking towards the village.

"Why?" James asked as he followed.

"No one but Champions is foolish enough to go into a dungeon, especially alone," Rocko explained.

"Makes sense. I have a few questions," James started.

"Go ahead. We have a bit of a walk ahead of us."

"How does Armour Rating work?"

"Quite well, I am told," Rocko looked back at James and gave him a grin. "Erm, I mean, it is rather complicated. I remember talking to you when we were in the dungeon."

"Yes, but the numbers don't add up. I am wearing about 50 points of armour, but my total is only 30," James asked.

"Armour Rating is based on the area where you are struck. Your head would have an Armour Rating of 7. Your chest would be an AR of 26, and your lower legs would be an AR of 4."

"But my AR is 30?" James reiterated.

"That is your highest defence, 26 for your chest, plus one quarter of your Dexterity and one half of your Evasion."

"But my AR was much better when I was the Were Tiger?"

"Yes, because you could use three-quarters of your Dexterity and your full Dodge Skill," Rocko explained.

"Why the huge difference? I figured having armour would be better."

"It is. Your Dexterity was much higher on your Were Tiger, but your defence will improve with your armour skill," Rocko said with patience.

"How does the Armour - Medium Skill play into this?" James asked.

Rocko paused and looked up at James, "Wearing armour confers a penalty to all of your physical skills. That means, Stealth, Ranged - Bow, everything. The penalty is negated by having a high armour Skill."

"What's the penalty?"

"Not sure," Rocko stated, walking towards the village again. "I believe that it is half of your total armour bonus, and each rank in the armour Skill reduces it by one."

"That means that until I get to a rank of 25 in Armour - Medium, my Skills will not count for anything. That blows chunks!" James muttered.

"No. I think that the maximum penalty for your Skills is dependent on the type of armour you are wearing. The penalty for Light is 25%, the medium is 50%, and heavy is 100%," Rocko clarified.

"I can at least get improvements on my Skills, even with the medium armour," James seemed reassured.

"Yes, but even that will be penalized because you are not proficient in the armour you are wearing," Rocko corrected.

"Would it be better for me to start with leather armour and use that for a while?" James asked.

"For the short term gains, yes, but for the long term, not really. Rocko paused again in his walk and looked up at James, "Light armour is not enough armour for the type of combat you will be doing. Heavy armour is too much armour for the latter portion of the Challenge. This is a good balance."

"Should I have taken the Skill Armour - Light when offered to me last week?" James inquired.

"No," Rocko shook his head. "Maybe," he shrugged. "If you have the space for the extra Skills, then sure. But remember, due to your limit on the number of Skills you are allowed, we have to be selective."

James checked to see that he had no new notifications before opening his Status Screen. He saw that he had sixteen Skills and 18 Intelligence. He had the room for two more Skills.

"Shields Skill works the same as the armour Skill but is specific to shields," Rocko explained.

"So, my shield has an AR of 8. Assuming that it is a medium armour type..." James looked to Rocko, who nodded in confirmation, "Then I would only need a Shield Skill of 4 to negate the penalty?"

"Correct," Rocko agreed.

"Then why go higher?" James was getting confused.

"Higher skills allow for bigger shields. Also, at level 10, you may get something interesting like Shield Bash, Knockback, Knockdown, Shieldwall, or something else," Rocko sighed.

"I hate math," James stated.

"You and me both, brother," Rocko agreed.

James walked up to the guard standing at the foot of a watchtower. Remembering what Jones had told him, he removed his helm and kept it under his right arm. James knew what he had to say since Rocko had already given him a heads up.

"Excuse me. I am looking for the watch commander?" James called out when he was close enough to do so.

"Who's asking?" the gruff soldier asked.

"James. The watch commander is looking for some people to kill a band of goblins just west of the village." James stated.

The soldier watched James as he continued to approach. Seeming to have made up his mind, the soldier pointed to the doorway to the tower, "She is up top."

Reaching the top of the tower, James had a pretty good view of the surrounding area. It was not taller than the trees, but it was well above the roof of the village and gave him a good view of the river.

There was only one person at the top of the tower, making it easy for James to spot the watch commander. She was also dressed in comparable armour to James and had a bright red sash across her chest.

"How can I help you," she greeted.

"I understand you are looking for some people to help with a goblin problem," James explained.

"That is correct. The problem has been growing out of control." Pointing at a bridge that crossed the river, she continued, "That bridge leads west. If you follow the road for about half a league, you will find the road crosses a small stream. Follow the stream a little way, and you will find a series of small caves on the west side of the stream. In those cases, you will find goblins." Turning back to James, she continued, "There is a small group of locals who have been fighting the goblins for the past week. They haven't had much luck, but perhaps you can team up with them and give them the edge they need to turn the tide against the goblins."

"Where might I find these people," James asked.

The watch commander pointed at a large building in the village. "Gathering at the tavern for breakfast. It is still early enough, and I have not yet seen them cross the bridge."

"Thank you. I will look for them there." James nodded to the watch commander and went back down the stairs.

Once he was far enough away, he whispered to Rocko, "What do you think, team up with the locals?"

"I would not recommend it, but the bonus to being in a group is pretty good. The problem is that they may figure out you are a Champion."

"Are there a lot of differences between Champions and regular people?" James asked quietly.

"Quite a bit. Champions heal about ten times faster and regenerate mana and stamina faster, but not as fast as healing. They can see their progress in notifications. Regular people can view their status screen, but that's it. They don't get choices of a Class or anything like that. They get what the gods give them. Their progression is much slower, and they don't get Skills the same way." Rocko explained.

"How do you mean? What is different about their Skills."

"The Skills are not different, but Champions are limited by their Intelligence to the number of Skills they can have and the level they can get those skills. Regular people can have as many Skills as they want. Their progression of Skills is plodding, though. You got several ranks in one day. A regular person may earn one a week for the first five levels, then once a month for the next five, and then one a year. You see how you stand out in a crowd."

"Yup, okay, so what is the story I want to go with. I don't want to PSI bolt, so go as a fighter?" James asked.

"Sure. You are dressed for it."

"I don't have the Shield Skill yet," James stated.

"I am sure you will get it soon enough," Rocko stated.

James continued walking towards the tavern and made his way inside. Seeing several groups of people, only one group of three stood out enough to be called adventurers.

Rocko started cursing beside him, "Don't even think about it. No, not. No. James, turn around and walk out now while you can. James!"

But James decided to walk to the table with the three young women. One was dressed in leather with a bow hanging from her chair. The second was a spell caster of some sort as she was dressed in loose-fitting clothing and had a staff leaning against the wall on her right. The last one had to be the group's tank, as she was wearing bits and pieces of chain armour. Instead of a sword, like most people, she had a wood axe as her primary weapon. They were all blondes and could not be more than twenty-five. If he were in a different place at a different time, he would swear that they were college girls having breakfast together.

He grinned to himself as he imagined they would tell him they had a boyfriend as soon as they approached them.

"Morning, ladies," he started in the way of greeting. All three of them turned their gaze at him but said nothing, "The watch commander mentioned that a group of three locals were hunting goblins and that I might be able to join them."

Rocko continued to try and convince James to walk away. "Just because they are beautiful young women doesn't mean they need your help. It also doesn't mean that they won't get you the first time they get a chance and steal your enchanted bow, two enchanted rings, enchanted necklace and enchanted 'Bag of Holding,' filled with hundreds of gold."

"We were considering not going today." the woman in leathers admitted. "We almost died yesterday. If not for Doris here," pointing at the woman in chain mail, "We would have all died."

"May I sit?" James asked.

"Of course," the woman in regular clothing said, pointing at an empty chair across from her.

"Thanks, I am James," James said as he sat down. At that point, he discovered how uncomfortable it is to sit in armour. A bench or a stool would have been better.

Each of the women introduced themselves in turn. Barbara was the woman with the bow and sat to his left. Connie sat across from him in robes, and Doris sat in bits of chain mail armour to his right. They were sisters.

James ordered some food himself, as he had not finished his breakfast before leaving, and chatted with the girls. Their previous day's disaster had to do with the fact that they got the attention of too many goblins, and Doris, who was a priestess, had to use all her mana to heal everyone instead of fighting. Connie had run out of mana and had to resort to clubbing the goblins over the head. Only Barbara was in no real danger as she just used her bow from a distance. Her biggest problem was not hitting one of her sisters.

All the while, Rocko was telling James how the women were going to lure him into the forest and hang him upside down from a tree, how they were going to rob him and then kill him. Or kill him and then rob him, depending on which story Rocko was using. James just smiled at the ladies and ate his breakfast.

The sisters turned towards the watchtower as the group crossed the bridge and waved. James noticed that the watch commander waved back.

"Your sister?" he asked.

"Mother," Barbara replied with a smile.

"Damn," James muttered.