Deacon arrived at the training yard and Old Pai beckoned him forward. Before the doors closed behind him Ralph met up with Elle and Sophia. Looking around he could see the seating areas had fewer people in them. He guessed the first time they thought it would be more sparring and less of a classroom setting. Considering he needed to use a holy artifact to save himself from yesterdays disaster, becoming more powerful was more important than putting on a good show.

“You are late. If you won’t take this seriously, I have other things to do.” Old Pai snapped.

“My sincerest apologies. Yesterday was a revelation. I need to be stronger.” Deacon replied with enough conviction Old Pai reassessed him.

“Then focus. I see your aura is more tightly controlled now. Did you gain a level in control?” Old Pai asked.

“Yes, it is level two now.” Deacon replied.

“Good. Show me your techniques.” Old Pai said as he took a defensive stance.

“I could attack one of the dummies, doesn’t have to be you.” Deacon said and received an invisible flick to his forehead. That was all the approval he needed. He tried to be respectful, but this old man has worked his last god damn nerve. Deacon flung out an Ice Sickle that was immediately batted away by Old Pai. He then moved to his right noting what hand Old Pai deflected with, once positioned correctly, he fired off a Nether beam at his legs while summoning an Ice Sickle from Old Pai’s blind spot. Old Pai jumped straight up over the beam and spun around with his right leg to smash the Ice Sickle out of the air landing just to the right of the beams impact location in the same stance he started in. Deacon just stood there with his mouth agape. How did this old man manage to move like that?

“Is that it?” Old Pai asked.

“What? That wasn’t enough?” Deacon asked.

“You only have a weak elemental blade construct and one energy projection technique?” Old Pai questioned.

“Well yes. I just learned the Ice Sickle ability recently. I used the beam to finish off a Skeletal Bi-dra. I thought it was cool.” Deacon replied confused at the questions.

“How have you survived to adulthood? These are children’s techniques. You should at least be able to summon your mana to reinforce your body. You should be able to use it to close distance between you and your opponent. You should be able to channel your aura through your weapon of choice to enhance its damage. Show me your weapon of choice.” Old Pai said exasperated.

“That was a lot of information. I don’t use a weapon. I’m strictly hand to hand.” Deacon replied.

“Cotton head, all the students in the four primary schools are all taught the three basic pillars of monk combat. This will be more difficult than I thought. I should have started with combat; I assumed your aura control was sloppy because you focused on other areas. No, this won’t do. I must assess your current level of combat. Attack me.” Old Pai said. This time Deacon didn’t hesitate, if he could get a few good shots in on him he might be able to activate touch of the void slowing the old codger down considerably.

Unfortunately Old Pai effortlessly dodged every strike like was floating on a cushion of air. Deacon would jab out with his right hand and the old master floated around it. He would come around with a left crescent kick and Old Pai would glide under it. Deacon was getting frustrated, so he went with a flurry of pressure point attacks to try to sneak in one good hit. All that earned him was a frown from Old Pai while each strike was met with a cushion of air. Deacon’s temper was getting the better of him. He threw down his tattered shirt eliciting a woo from someone in the stands. Deacon knew it was Sophie and wouldn’t dignify her cat calling with a glance. But the distraction was all Old Pai needed to flip him on his face in the dirt and lock his right wrist.

“You need to pay attention. Here are your flaws. You allow your frustrations to control you. Your Pressure Palm teacher taught you well, but you lack the experience to really use it. Since you lack a weapon skill, I will have to teach you that as well. Of the two pathetic techniques you showed me there is very little innovation. Why only one beam? Why not surround yourself with blades to keep enemies off you? You need to think more deeply about what you can already do.” Old Pai admonished.

Deacon lay there dumbfounded. Why didn’t he think of that? He already made a big blade and two separate blades. Did he instinctively think two hands two blades? Old Pai was one hundred percent correct. He wasn’t thinking about how he was fighting, just that he was fighting. Old Pai released his locked wrist and stepped over to one of the walls of the training yard. He gabbed two padded staff weapons. He pulled the padding off one and tossed the other to Deacon who reflexively tried to catch only to have it windmill around his palm striking him in the face before bouncing away. This earned him a sharp laugh from the crowd.

“Pathetic.” Old Pai said

“Sorry, haven’t had a chance to tell you. I can’t actually hold a weapon. It’s a bane I have.”

“Remarkable. The fates must hate you.” Old Pai said.

“You have no idea.” Deacon laughed.

“Then Defense. Any godly rules against defense?” Old Pai asked.

“Don’t think so.” Was all Deacon got out before Old Pai was on top of him swinging for the fences with that damn staff. Deacon got his arms up in time to block the first blow, but it nearly knocked him over. The second shot to his ribs followed by the third to his right ankle he was too slow to avoid. Deacon danced back a little looking no worse for wear. Old Pai looked at him with an appraising eye.

“You can still walk?” Old Pai asked.

“Sure, all good.” Deacon said keeping his arms up. That’s when Old Pai started spinning air around staff and the corners of lips curled up in a devilish grin. He shot forward at an alarming speed; staff pointed directly at Deacon's chest. Deacon used Spectral Dodge to curve around the blow to the left unfortunately Old Pai flourished the staff spinning it under his arm mid lunge to slam the back end into Deacon. Deacon saw his health bar drop by fifty percent as he went flying back behind Old Pai. Old Pai turned around leaning on the staff looking at Deacon’s now prone body.

“Good. Let’s work on that green dash you just did.” Old Pai said. Deacon’s only reply was to spit blood on the sandy ground of the training yard.

After about three more hours of training, Old Pai performed his tornado exit technique and Deacon was left on the ground of the training yard bruised and battered. The good news was his Spectral Dodge technique reached level two and underwent a name change.

Evolved Ability- Spectral Dodge has evolved at level two to Spectral Dash. Due to hard work and training you no longer need to wait to be attacked to use this ability. You can actively dash in any direction for five souls or reactively dodge for one.

Deacon promised himself he’d ask the dragon why some abilities cost entire souls and others were a percentage of his total. More class weirdness he didn’t understand. Realizing he wasn’t in a party and would not heal on his own, he stuck his hand into his bag and realized he was out of potions. On to the next task for today. Elle, Sophie, and Ralph arrived after they realized he wasn’t getting up. They got him on his feet and brought him to the cafeteria. Jacob saw them coming in the door and rushed over.

“What happened now?” Jacob asked.

“Nothing just training with Old Pai.” Deacon said.

“Why haven’t you healed yourself? You are surrounded by guildmates, ask for help.” Jacob said as he sent a party invite to Deacon.

“Well shit, why didn’t I think of that.” Deacon said accepting the invite. It was then that he saw Jacob's health bar was ridiculous long.

“Just bring him over to my table. I think Old Pai isn’t a fan of teaching you. What’s the point in beating you that badly?” Jacob asked.

“It’s ok. I evolved an ability and it made it to level two.” Deacon said as some of his bruises were starting to recede.

“I hope its worth it. I stopped by before coming down here, what was with all the green copies of you.” Jacob asked.

“That’s the ability, it lets me dash around. Really neat when not being used against a master.” Deacon said.

“Ok, since you are feeling better let’s get down to business. Our mutual friend told me what happened to you and Ralph. That is a serious problem and I’ve called for a specialist. He should get here in a few days. All the Guild Masters in town are meeting tonight and they’ve requested both you and Ralph be there to explain what you saw. Can I count on you to make it?” Jacob asked.

“I have a conflict. Dinner at Desentes Keep.” Deacon said looking much better.

“It’s true, Typhus and I are going as well.” Elle said leaning back in her chair.

“That’s great, that is where the meeting is being held.”, Jacob said, “Also there have been at least two guildmates that have agreed to your quest. Several others have agreed to your repeating quests. Are you sure you can afford this?” Jacob asked.

“If not right now very shortly.” Deacon replied.

“What quests?” Asked Elle.

“This is rich, Deacon sponsored a bunch of ingredient gathering quests that Jacob puts up and then puts up again after they have all been completed. There are bushels of ingredients in the Alchemy lab right now.” Sophie said getting strange looks from everyone at the table.

“What? I was looking for him yesterday and ran into someone completing a quest. I’m not a stalker.” Sophie explained.

“Anyway, I need you to train these alchemists and make use of all this material. We are already running low on the potions you provided two days ago.” Jacob said.

“It’s next on my list. Are the two apprentices here now?” Deacon said all but healed up.

“Yes.” Jacob said as he brought over two more people to the table.

“Hello, I’m Anry, a Novice Tier Adventurer and this is my friend Lilian. She is also a Novice Tier.” Announced Anry.

“Nice to meet you. You understand what the stipulations are correct?” Asked Deacon standing up from the table to greet them.

“Yes, its no problem. In fact its quite generous.” Anry stated.

Deacon gave them a once over. Anry was clearly a magic user clad in robes with red hair and freckles. Lillian looked more like some sort of rogue with a hood and daggers in holsters on her belt. She was some kind of half lizard person. Very light on the lizard in her mix. Deacon began leading them to the lab when Ralph grabbed his elbow.

“Remember, you can’t spend all day in there we have to go see your friend.” Ralph said with a little more urgency than needed.

“I’ve got an idea since I can’t be everywhere at once. Elle would you mind asking Genevieve to come for a visit? I have a few questions for her that may help Ralph and I on a quest.” Deacon asked.

“Sure, but what quest?” Elle asked.

“Ralph if you go with you can fill her in on the way. We are burning daylight people, lets go.” Deacon said as he dragged the two new apprentices to the Alchemy lab. As soon as they were out of the room Sophie grabbed Elle by the shoulders looked right in her eyes and asked her a question.

“Who is this Genevieve?”