&&&&& ASTRAL SPACE &&&&&

The Astral Space was the same. Before moving anywhere, James took a moment to check his notifications.

Endurance +1

Charm +1

Shield +1

Armour - Medium +1

Inspect +1

Analyze +1 Congratulations! Analyze has reached level 10.

You may now Analyze Enchanted items up to the Rarity Uncommon.

James was glad to see that his armour skill was increasing so quickly. He still needed it to get to level 25, but it would not take as long as he had feared. He suspected that it helped that he was in melee combat a lot.

With that out of the way, he used Astral Anchor and returned to his room in Ferdinand's home. Then, a moment later, he was standing in his room again.

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

It was nice to have this method of quick travel available. Hopefully, he will have a chance to increase the number of Astral Anchors. He would have to ask Rocko about it.

James gave it a quick tug on the bell pull and then started to undo the straps on his armour while walking over to the armour stand. It didn't take very long for Jones to entered the room.

"How was your 'no combat' adventure," Jones asked.

"Pretty good, but the armour got banged up somehow. Not sure what happened," James responded with a smile.

"I brought up the armour stand earlier," Jones said, pointing to where a strange-looking stand stood. "Do you need help?"

"No, I should be good. I just wanted to let someone know I was here, so people didn't think ghosts were in my room. Oh, and I am looking for a price on a set of steel or iron chainmail, Greaves and ..." James paused, "I can't remember what the pants are called.

"Pants?" Jones asked, narrowing his eyes.

"My apologies, Mr. Jones. I mean this piece," pointing at the Cuisses. James then tries his most disarming smile.

Jones turned and walked out of the room, slamming both the bedroom and outer doors.

James sighed, "Was it something I said?"

There was a knock at the outer door several minutes later. James was almost out of the armour when he opened up the door to Veronika. He stepped aside and invited her in.

"Need some help out of your ... armour?" she teased.

"Please, it is harder than it looks," he teased back.

Veronika laughed and moved to his side to help loosen the straps. "I thought you were not going to be returning for a while?"

"I could not keep myself away from you," James smiled, batting his eyelashes.

Veronika slapped his shoulder, which only hurt her hand, "Don't be an ass."

"The place was closer than I thought. And we finished up the goblin caves for the day. Except for the last one. We thought we would wait until tomorrow."

"We?" she inquired, helping him out of the scale mail.

James moved over to the armour stand and rested the scale mail on it, "Ya, I met up with a group of adventures clearing out the area I was hunting in. We figured we may as well group up."

"Was that dangerous?" Veronika stated. "What if they found out you were a Champion?"

James paused as he was removing his Gambeson, "Champion?"

Veronika put a hand over her mouth and laughed, "Sorry, there is a reason I am not a very good spy. I can't remember what I am supposed to know and what I am not."

James doubted that very much but just shrugged. If she knew, it was one less secret he had to keep from her. "They figured it out, too. I am not very good at keeping this whole thing a secret either."

"Well, if they cause you any problems, let me know. I may know someone who knows someone who can take care of them. If you know what I mean."

James laughed, "You mean your guild master assassin father?"

"You know about that?" she asked with a grin.

"I did come to visit your father, after all. One would think that you know who you are visiting." This was a lie. James had no idea who the guild master was until after James had saved his life.

"Maybe we don't have as many secrets as we thought we did." she teased as she helped him out of his Gambeson, pausing to kiss him.

"You're going to make taking this leather Cuisses off very difficult if you keep doing that," James whispered.

"Oh, James, you do make a girl laugh." Veronika chuckled as she moved behind him and helped remove the Greaves.

"I will let you get out of your Cuisses on your own," she chuckled, heading for the door, "Supper is in two hours. I recommend you have a bath."

"I smell that bad?" James asked, sniffing his arm.

"Yes," she paused for a moment, "And James. Welcome home."

James smiled and sat down on the bed to remove his boots.

"Ah, isn't that sweet," Rocko crooned next to him.

James leaped from the bed and reached for his sword. Seeing it was Rocko, he relaxed, muttering something about a bell.

"Did you find the dungeon entrance," Rocko asked.

"No," James answered. "We decided to stop after clearing out the eleventh cave."

"Was it that dangerous?"

"No, just a dozen goblins in three groups. They were tougher than most. We did find an Enchanted Throwing Axe." James answered excitedly.

"That's good." Rocko looked around the room, "So I talked to a few people and got some interesting information."

"Oh."

"It seems that Champions don't group with regular people. The last time was more than a hundred years ago."

"Why?" James inquired. "You would think that they would want safety in numbers, right?"

"Well, from what I could tell, there are several reasons. The biggest reason is that your experience is reduced by more than half. Now the party system does give you a bonus for each person in the party, but it would only help you if you have more than three people in the party. There is a also the added risk that whomever you party with will turn on you, either to another Champion or the authorities. And the last reason is that it is not sustainable."

"What do you mean, sustainable?"

"They will gain levels at half your rate, even with you in the party. Which is much faster than they would normally get experience. That means by the time you are level 20, they can no longer help you. Now, you could join some parties that are higher level than you and once you are higher than them, be on your way. But that involves trusting a lot of people." Rocko explained.

James ponders this new information. Rocko was right; he was already ahead of the women in levels. When James got to level 10, they would be level 8. If he was lucky, they would still be able to help him when he did the level 10 dungeon. The other factor was that he was losing a lot of experience by grouping up with them. On the inverse side, they gained a ton of experience by grouping with him. Even though he wanted to help the women out, he didn't want to sacrifice his progress. Giving up one more day to help them would not be that bad. After he completed the dungeon with them, he could always go back the day after and complete it independently.

"Is there any way to reduce my progress or increase their progress?" James asked.

Rocko stared at him for a full minute, "Why would you even consider such a thing? Do you not understand that you have less than nine months to find and secure an Amulet? Getting into a group of everyday adventures would restrict your growth and endanger them."

James nodded. Rocko was right about endangering them, but he also saw the merit of having a team he could work with and trust. "Well? Is there?" he asked again.

"Yes to both questions," Rocko sighed. His rate of speech slowed down as he thought of the answers. "To increase their growth rate, there are potions that can increase experience gain for an hour at a time. They start at tier 3 and are about 300 gold each." Rocko paused, letting that sink in.

"Not very cost-effective. Especially since we only gain a few gold coins a day."

Rocko nodded, "There are a couple of different ways to reduce your experience gain."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," James chuckled.

"You split your experience with another." Rocko sighed, observing James.

"I don't understand. Could I share my experience with you? Or one of the women? How do you mean?" James asked, confused.

"You can not share your experience with me. It would be a waste even if you could, as I am much higher level than you are. You might be able to Mentor Barbara, but that is a complicated process and would only help one of them. You can get a pet and share your experience with the pet. This way allows both you and the pet to grow simultaneously. But it is expensive."

"How expensive?"

"Ten Advantage points per level you have obtained. So right now, it would cost 70 points. If you waited until you finish the dungeon, hoping for many points from the dungeon, you would have 60 points and would most likely need another 50."

"Damn, that is expensive. Anyway, to reduce the cost?" James asked.

Rocko sighed again, "I advise against this option one hundred and ten percent. I am telling you this because I must answer your direct questions. But my follow-up advice is don't do it. Fine. Yes, you can reduce the cost by half by taking a dysfunctional pet. The same as you can increase the cost by taking an overpowered pet."

"How dysfunctional?" James asked.

"Not as dysfunctional as you are."

"You forget that I am not trying to get a powerful pet. I am trying to reduce my experience gain." James advised.

"Crazy, moronic, insane... " Rocko paused, trying to come up with more names.

"Idiotic, asinine, stupid, a brick short of a full load." James offered.

"I don't need your help coming up with names for you." Rocko admonished.

"It is not something that I will do, but I would like to have the option if the other party members decide they want to continue adventuring with me."

"And how are they going to get around? They are limited to walking. Riding if they splurge for horses, whereas you can Astral Travel. Did you think of that?" Rocko asked.

"Actually, no. I forgot about that. That is a good point." James conceded.

"Good, then we can put this line of inquiry to rest," Rocko said with a relieved sigh.

"Would I be able to get a dog as a pet?"

"Ignoramus..."

Ferdinand was in the city and busy for the next couple of days. Dinner was a very private affair as it was only Veronika and James. Instead of the big dining table, they ate their meal in a small parlor with large windows overlooking the gardens. The sun had just set, so the park was filled with deep shadows and evening blossoms. The conversation was pleasant, and he did mention that he would need to leave first thing in the morning but didn't mention anything about the fact that the three people he was adventuring with were three beautiful young women. He may not have remembered all of his momma's words of wisdom, but he remembered that one.

"Do you have to go back out again tomorrow? We could go into town and do some shopping," Veronika innocently asked.

James paused, letting the fork hover in front of his open mouth. Mother warned him about women asking him to go shopping.

"I did promise that I would return in the morning," James answered, hoping that it was enough to ward off the danger.

"I suppose. I just noticed that you have very little in the way of clothing in your dresser," she said, taking a bit of her steak.

"My dresser?" James asked.

"Don't give me that look. I was the one who put your clothes away. I wasn't snooping," she answered defensively. "Much," she mumbled.

That made sense. James' gear had been put away while he had been unconscious for a week. "With any luck, I should be back in a couple of days. If I finish with my dungeon by then, we can go shopping."

"Dungeon? James, tell me you are not going into a dungeon!" she said sternly.

"I have been in dungeons before, Veronika. The last one was ten levels higher than I was, and I survived." He omitted that he was a Were Tiger at the time and therefore immune to non-magical damage. No sense in having her worry.

"Really?" she leaned forward, intrigued.

"Yes," James forked some food into his mouth, indicating that was all he would say on the matter.

Veronika harrumphed, "Fine, I won't tell you what father plans to get you for saving his life."

"Why would he get me anything?" James asked. "He had already given me food, shelter and medicine when I was sick. I understand the healer, and the medicine was not cheap."

"James, you must let a man create the value for his own life. He will tell you when he has paid you back for saving his life," she stated wisely. James wasn't about to argue, but he was not sure she was correct in this.