“Alright it looks like you foot has been healing up nicely,” Zerah said once she had finished examining the foot in question. “You haven’t noticed any further pain or cramping?”

“No, it’s been fine for the past couple of days,” Kyle nodded. “So, I’m cleared to leave?”

“Sure,” she nodded. “Make sure that you say goodbye to your friends though. They’ve been making a lot of progress since you left you know.”

“Yeah, we’re planning on spending the rest of the day preparing the rest of the things that I need before I leave and have dinner with everyone tonight,” Kyle replied as he glanced down at Fi who was currently sitting n the bed beside him.

“We reserved a table at our favourite restaurant,” Fi agreed. “We’ve made quite a bit of money by making Inscriptions for people over the past couple of weeks after all. So combined with the reward money that we got from completing the Emergency Quest and selling the monster parts that we got from the Daggerleg Spiders we have more than enough money to pay for everyone’s meals and the things that we need to get before we leave.”

“Sounds like you’ve got the right idea,” Zerah laughed. “I’m glad that you’ve had some time to work on your Inscriptions as well. I’m sure that Skill will prove to be incredibly useful in the future.”

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. His ability to use multiple weapons at the same time by utilising his Chain Manipulation Skill synergised incredibly well with both his Enchantment magic and the Inscription Skill. He was still pretty limited in the Inscriptions that he could make at the moment but that would eventually change.

“Right, we should be getting going Kyle,” Fi said. “We have more things to do today.”

“Well you’re free to go,” Zerah nodded. “Good luck Kyle.”

Thanks,” Kyle nodded as he bent down to put his shoe back on. “I hope that I’ll see you around.”

“Of course, dear,” Zerah nodded. “You’re always free to pop in whenever you’re in town.”

Kyle thanked her once again before heading in the direction of the main street where most of the shops that they needed to visit were.

“Right so we still need to get a tent, a sleeping bag, cooking equipment and some more supplies,” Fi said. “Other than that, we’re pretty well equipped for a trip to Juria.”

Juria was the town that they were planning on heading to. Like Greenhearth, Juria was a Dungeon Town but Juria’s Dungeon was a C-Rank Dungeon called the Caverns of Malice which was considerably more dangerous than the E-Ranked Twisted Forest. This meant that the monsters that were encountered on the first Floor were about as powerful as the ones that you could find on about the fourth or fifth Floor of the Twisted Forest. In fact the weakest monsters in the Caverns of Malice were Giant Bats and the lowest Level Giant Bat ever recorded was Level 8 which meant that the Caverns of Malice were pretty much the perfect place for Kyle and FI to go to get training.

Kyle adjusted his newly repaired coat as he walked. Zerah had done a really good job repairing it and had even added a hood at his request. Kyle was a little bit nervous about how he would be treated outside of Greenhearth due to his heritage as an Aethereal Human. Zerah had immediately understood his request and had even added an Inscription to the hood that would make it harder for someone to see underneath it while it was up and then gone on to add some of the carapace from the Daggerleg Spiders that Kyle and Fi had killed which had increased its defence somewhat.

Spotting the shop that he was looking for he walked in and was immediately greeted by one of the clerks working there.

“Good morning sir,” the clerk said. “Are you looking for something in particular or just here to browse?”

“We’re looking for these items,” Kyle replied as he pulled out the list that he and Fi had made earlier.

“Planning on going on a trip are we sir?” the clerk asked, and Kyle nodded. “Well it looks like you’ve thought about just about everything. But may I ask sir, are you an Adventurer?”

“That’s right, Kyle nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“Well Adventurers have a tendency to go places far more dangerous than the average person,” the clerk replied. “So, we also try to recommend that Adventurers buy some Wards if they can afford them. Do you know what Wards are?”

“A Ward is an Inscribed Item that usually either hides anything behind the Ward or prevents weaker monsters from even getting close,” Kyle replied. Zerah had explained what Wards were in class since they were one of the most useful items that someone with the Inscribing Skill could learn to make. “They also often have an Inscription that functions as an alarm if something gets too close or breaks the Ward.”

“That is correct sir,” the clerk nodded happily. “So, would you be interested in buying some Wards as well as the items on this list?”

“Well, I’m not realty planning on going anywhere too dangerous,” Kyle replied. “But I suppose that we could take a look at tour selection. Right Fi?”

“I don’t see why not,” his companion agreed. “But remember that we want to have some money saved up.”

“Very good sir,” the clerk said with a slight bow of his head. “Please follow me.”

The clerk lead them over to a different section of the store that had racks of Inscribed plates of various materials ranging from wood to metal.

“Now as you can see, we have several different types of Ward ranging from the cheapest wooden ones that only have an Alarm Inscription on them to Barrier Wards made of metal,” the clerk explained. “May I ask what your budget is?”

“Let’s say about 3 gold coins,” Fi replied before Kyle could respond.

“Alright then,” the clerk nodded. “Are you travelling alone or in a group?”

“Alone, for now,” Kyle replied. “But we do have a mount.”

“You could either afford a set of wooden Wards with a comprehensive set of Inscriptions that will keep weaker monsters from approaching and set off an alarm if anything that they can’t keep away approaches or a set of metal Wards that only have the alarm Inscription,” the clerk told the pair.

“What’s the difference between a Ward made of wood and one made of metal?” Kyle asked.

“Well it’s much easier for a wooden Ward to get damaged,” the clerk replied with an understanding smile. “Now they can be repaired by someone with the Inscriptions Skill but doing so can be quite expensive.”

“Hmm, what do you think Fi?” Kyle asked. “I’m leaning towards getting the wooden ones.”

“That does seem like the better idea for us,” Fi nodded before turning to the clerk. “How difficult is it to repair the Inscriptions?”

“Well I don’t have the Skill myself, but I’ve heard that its relatively simple,” the clerk replied as he picked up one of the Wards. “But feel free to take a look.”

Well the Inscriptions look simple enough,” Kyle told Fi. “I’m pretty sure that I could repair them easily enough.”

“Alright,” Fi nodded. “Then this is the better option.”

“We’ll take the wooden Wards thanks,” Kyle told the clerk who nodded.

“Alright, let me just go and get all the other things on your list and I’ll meet you at the counter in a couple of minutes,” the clerk told them.

Kyle nodded and headed over to the counter to wait. Since there were quite a few things on the list it took the clerk several minutes to collect everything.

“That will be 6 gold and 4 silver, sir,” the clerk said once he had collected everything.

“Thanks,” Kyle said as he handed the money over. Once he had done this Fi sucked everything inside her Inventory before leaving the store.

“Right,” Kyle said once they were outside. “I think that we should go and do some training at the Guild for a couple of hours since I haven’t had the bandages off my foot since we got back and then head over to the stables for a bit. What do you think?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Fi agreed. “You may have been able to practice casting spells and using your chains at a distance, but your melee combat might have suffered a bit. It’s probably also a good idea to see if your foot is going to slow you down at all.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Kyle nodded as he turned and started heading in the direction of the guild. “Do you want to watch or go and see who can make it to dinner tonight?”

“I’ll watch for a bit to see how your foot is, but I can go and check up on everyone after that,” Fi decided. “It shouldn’t take me that long to do.”

“Okay, I can wait for you to get back,” Kyle nodded.

A couple of the Adventurers that he had sold Inscriptions to greeted them as they walked into the Guild. They were all around Kyle’s Level and several of them had even asked him if h would be interested in joining their Party, but he had refused as politely as possible. Kyle and Fi quickly made their way towards the back of the Guild where the training area was and walked up to the man who was running the training area.

“Hey John, could we rent one of the training rooms?” Kyle asked.

“Sure, thing kiddo,” John nodded. “Is your foot doing better now?”

John was an older man who had a similar dark skin colour to Sonia which was quite rare. He was also extremely skilled with a spear and occasionally sparred with some of the higher Levelled Adventurers

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded.

“Maybe we could have a quick spar later then?” John asked.

“That sounds like it could be fun,” Kyle replied. “But I think that I’d like to spend some time fighting one of the magic training dummies first.”

“That’s probably a god idea,” John nodded. “Here’s the token.”

“Cool, I owe you 2 copper for an hour with one of the dummies, right?” Kyle asked as he took the small wooden block from John.

“Don’t worry, kid,” John replied with a bark of laughter. “You’ve been helping a lot of the newbies out around here recently and your Class intrigues me as well. So, let’s make this last training session a gift from me as thanks.”

“Well that’s very generous of you.”

“Don’t thank me kid,” John said. “Like I said. I’m interested in learning as much about your Class as I can. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. So, this is as much about my own curiosity as anything else.”

“Alright, I’ll let you know when I’m done with the dummy,” Kyle nodded.

“Sounds like a plan,” John agreed. “Would you mind if I let some of the other Adventurers know that we’re going to be sparring?”

“Well I suppose that would be alright,” Kyle said. “But limit it to people who you can trust. I’ve got some things that I need to keep secret.”

“Yeah, Alistair told me about that,” John agreed. “Don’t worry I’m only planning on inviting people that Alistair cleared to know about your particular situation.”

“Thanks,” Kyle nodded. “Well, best not waste any more time I suppose.”

John nodded and waved him off in the direction of the small room where the magical training dummy that he had rented out. These magical training dummies were Inscribed with a number of Inscriptions that allowed them to move and fight. There was another Inscription on the wall of the training room that allowed you to set certain behaviours allowing one training dummy to function as almost any number of different types of combatant.

Kyle set the Inscriptions to give the dummy the standard Stats and Skills of a Level 9 Warrior since his Stats were higher than the average Level 7 and stepped towards the wooden and metal figure as it jerked into motion.

“Do you want your chains?” Fi asked as the wooden puppet picked up a wooden sword.

“No,” Kyle replied as he raised both of his fists. “I managed to practice a bit with them while I was healing so I want to train my Unarmed Combat first. Besides I’ll have to use my footwork more this way so it’s actually better for figuring out if my foot is going to cause me any problems.”

Having said this both Kyle and the dummy suddenly darted forwards. Kyle ducked under a swing of the dummy’s sword with the ease that only someone with considerable Agility could and delivered a powerful uppercut to what would be the chin on a living humanoid. The dummy stumbled backwards as Kyle dropped to the floor and kicked the dummy’s feet out from underneath it. Flipping back to his feet with almost unnatural seeming alacrity Kyle then waited for the dummy to right itself. If he had continued to beat the thing down like he had been there would be no point in what he was doing.

However, despite this the rest of the fight went much the same way. Kyle’s Agility was simply too high for the dummy to keep up with even though he had set the dummy’s Stats to Level 9 instead of his own Level 7. So it was only a few minutes later that he called for a halt and too his chains from Fi who decided that she had seen enough and went to check that everyone was going to turn up to dinner tonight. As far as she could tell Kyle’s foot wasn’t slowing him down at all. In fact, he seemed to be fighting in a much less reckless way than he had been before the incident and was confident that

Kyle set the Dummy’s Level another two Levels higher than his own for this next bout of training. He wasn’t planning on using just his chains now. He wanted to start using his magic again as well. However, even with that he wasn’t entirely sure that he could defeat the dummy which was now also arming itself with a kite shield but he wanted to see how far he could push himself against an enemy with high defence since that was his biggest weakness. Ulrich had proven that to him the first time that they had fought and despite his advantage in terms of his Level that had been an incredibly hard fight. Kyle was well aware that his abilities were more specialised for taking down magic wielders or groups of individually weaker enemies which was why practicing fighting opponents that he wasn’t quite as good at fighting was so important to him.

With a thought lightning, ice and fire enveloped his three chains which immediately spun out at the dummy. It managed to block the two that he wasn’t controlling with Chain Manipulation with it’s shield only for the final one to jink to the left at the last minute and spear into its chest and deliver a jolt of electricity. For a normal opponent this attack would stun them for a split second, and this was also true of the dummy as the magical attack disrupted some of the Inscriptions powering it temporarily. Normally this wouldn’t actually happen, but the dummy had several built-in flaws that allowed in to react in ways similar to the way a living thing in the same situation.

However, unlike the last fight which was pretty one sided the dummy managed to recover much faster thanks to the higher Stats that it had this time. Kyle bit back a curse as it slammed its shield into him with enough force that he was sent stumbling backwards. He recovered quickly enough that he was able to avoid the dummy’s follow-up attack and fire back with a counter of his own sending a handful of glowing blue Mana Darts arcing towards where the dummy’s face would have been if it was alive.

The rest of the fight went much the same way. The dummy was more than capable of blocking most of Kyle’s attacks but even less of its own attacks landed on the agile chain wielder. In the end Kyle finally managed to completely destroy the arm holding the shield with a Mana Blast which pretty much ended the fight, but he knew that the dummy would’ve eventually managed to wear him down if he hadn’t managed to land that lucky attack. His Endurance was still too low for drawn out combat and his weapons still weren’t as effective against heavily armoured enemies as he would like. He was just thankful that his high Agility had allowed him to dodge most of the dummy’s attacks or the fight would’ve gone much worse for him.

His magic was definitely still his biggest advantage over most people. While it was far from unusual for people who were over Level 5 like himself to have learnt the Mana Manipulation Skill even if they didn’t have a magic-based Class the fact that he had years of practice using magic gave him a massive advantage over all but the best dedicated casters. That combined with his unusual choice of weapon and high Stats for his Level made him far more powerful than most of his enemies would expect.

With a sigh Kyle deactivated the dummy and exited the training room. John spotted him as he exited and headed over carrying three different coloured potions.

“Here you go Kyle,” he said as he handed the potions over to the tired looking young man. “Looks like you’ve had a pretty good training session already. Still up for our sparring match?”

“I will be once I’ve finished these,” Kyle chuckled as he drained the first potion which was the bright green colour of a Stamina Potion and groaned as he felt the tiredness that had been building up in his limbs fade away.

“Good man,’ John nodded. “I’ve set up the arena for us when you’re ready.”

Kyle nodded and drained the other two potions as they headed over to the arena where a small crowd of people were waiting for them with excited looks on their faces. While new Classes weren’t entirely unheard of it was still something only seen once every 50 years or so. So it wasn’t surprising that people were interesting in seeing what Kyle’s Class was capable of. Kyle even saw Alistair in the crowd and as soon as he spotted him the bespectacled man beckoned them over.

“Kyle, I want you to be careful during this sparring match,” the guild master told the young man quietly. “You can feel free to use your Skills, but I don’t want you to use your Divine Retribution magic. There’s a good chance that someone in this crowd could realise what it is and we’re just not ready to reveal that there is a new Champion yet.”

“Alright,” Kyle nodded in understanding. “I can do that.”

“Good,” Alistair said. “Now I want you to make the most of this sparring match that you possibly can. John is excellent at helping people realise their own weaknesses. So much so that Galdon has been trying to recruit him for years but he prefers working with people who have their second Tier Class since that means that they’re starting to develop their own fighting styles. I suspect that this sparring match will be very helpful to you.”

“Okay, thanks Alistair,” Kyle replied as he glanced over to the other side of the arena where John was waiting. To his surprise John was now wearing heavy looking plate armour and carrying a large kite shield and what seemed to be a lance instead of the leather armour and long spear that he usually fought with when he was sparring with the other Adventurers. It seemed that what Alistair had said was true and John was planning on using Kyle’s own weaknesses against him.

A small smile broke out over Kyle’s face as he stepped forwards. He was fully prepared to lose this fight but that didn’t mean that he was going to take it easy either.