Gabriel PoV

“I’m really frustrated”

My brother isn’t in a good mood, which I find strange because playing GDO has been a great experience for both of us.

“What happened?”

Curiosity in my voice, I can’t seem to think of a reason for him to be like that.

“I got beaten by a tiny little girl”

What?

“How did that happen?”

I’m surprised, I didn’t even know about PvP in the academy, but my brother losing to a little girl, that’s something else.

“There is a PvP building, I went there and got beaten”

“Could you be a little more specific?”

I notice the anger in his eyes.

“She used magic, you know, it’s common sense for magicians to be weak against warriors, yet she avoided every swing of my sword as if it was the easiest thing to do”

He clutches his fist.

“The worst thing is that she ran out of mana and gave up”

My brother remains silent for a while, I’m not sure what to say, normally I would tease him but I don’t think it’s a good time for that.

“I couldn’t do a single thing besides getting hit by her fireballs”

Then I smile sympathetically.

“And how was it? Magic in GDO?”

He smiles and the mood around him changes.

“It was amazing, you should have seen those fireballs appear out of nowhere and they came straight at you really fast, there was no cast but I’m guessing that was a really basic skill, I wonder how strong magic will be when the players are stronger”

Michael talks excitedly about magic in the game for a while, looks like he already forgot about the beating, I will tease him about it in the future.

“How about you? Are you still playing card games?”

He asks with a grin in his face.

I don’t want to answer, yes I have only been playing games, but I learnt a skill, a useless skill, he is going to laugh about it.

He keeps staring at me, he knows there is something I don’t want to say.

“You got a skill didn’t you?”

I knew it, he’s sharp when things are of his interest.

I nod.

“Of course you did, skills are learned by repeating the same action”

I shouldn’t have spent all my time playing cards.

“What kind of skill did you learn?”

His tone is serious.

I wait for a while before answering.

“It’s called Bluff”

Suddenly he burst out laughing.

“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you”

It’s depressing.

When he finally stops laughing his tone gets serious.

“What does it do? Your skill I mean”

“I don’t know, the NPC I was playing with didn’t know either”

He laughs again.

“You know, you can see the description of a skill”

“What? How? I tried the show skills command and all I got was the name and level of the skill”

He keeps laughing.

“You just have to say the name of the skill plus description, in your case ‘Bluff Description’ should work”

I will have to try that.

“Well, you certainly fixed my mood”

His face, that horrible grin of his when he is having fun mocking me, time to remind him of this little girl.

“You should go back into GDO to get beaten by little girls”

His smile disappears.

“Forget about the little girl and I will forget about your skill, deal?”

“Deal”

That was easy, his pride was seriously hurt.

“What will you do now? Did you decide what skill to learn?”

He smiles again.

“I’m going to learn how to use a shield”

Interesting choice, usually he’s all about attack power.

“And you?”

He asks with a curious tone.

“I’m not sure, keep playing cards I guess, but magic sounds interesting”

“You should hurry up, I will leave the academy as soon as I can and won’t wait for you”

I’m stuck in the role of a supporter, after all he paid for half of my headgear with that condition.

“My instructor said that there are some useful skills to learn from playing cards, the problem is he doesn’t teach them, you just learn them by playing”

He sighs.

“I get it, you are going to keep playing no ma matter what I say”

I nod.

“As long as you have fun”

Then he turns around.

“Time to learn how to use a shield”

He leaves.

We already had lunch so it’s time to go back to the game.

William PoV

Once I had lunch and let out some of my frustration talking with my brother I came back to the game.

“Show Status”

‘Name: William

Class: None

Health: 40/40

Mana: 10/10

Stamina: 100/100

Satiety: 85/100

STR: 8

AGI: 5

VIT: 5’

While learning my sword skills I got health, strength, agility and vitality. My brother has gotten mana, luck and wisdom, I don’t think I’m going to need those stats but my mana needs to increase.

For that reason I’m going to learn my shield skill to the temple of Naleya, I already checked and there are a couple of shield training centers but they do mostly the same kind of training I did on the sword training center, which makes me think I will only get the same stats. I hope in the temple there is a different kind of training.

I arrive there shortly, lot of players reading books, praying and similar stuff.

The instructor I saw the other day isn’t here and there is no one carrying a shield, maybe I can ask the priestess, after all she asked me to come back.

Asking around I was told to go to the garden, supposedly the priestess spends most of her time there.

And there she is, the atmosphere around her is so calm, I even think that I shouldn’t bother her.

But she saw me and waved her hand while smiling.

I walk towards her and bow my head.

“William, no need to be so formal”

She says while frowning, I’m glad she remembers me.

I look at her and smile.

“I have to thank you for the other day, I managed to find the headmaster and deliver the letter thanks to you”

She smiles, it feels so warm and gentle.

“No need to thank me, I’m I could help”

Then she stares at me for a while.

“You are quite talented, two skills in only a week, I knew you were a promising adventurer”

How?

“How did you know that?”

“Oh.. certainly it must be quite strange for you, as a priestess of Naleya goddess of love and wisdom, one of my skills allows me to see the information concerning other people”

That explains it.

“Well, most instructors have a skill which allows them to see some information about students within the academy”

I see, that’s why most instructors don’t ask much questions when you talk to them.

“Good to know that, forgive me for asking but is it possible to learn that skill?”

She giggles.

“It is possible, but it would take you at least five years and you would have to become a high priest within our temple”

A useful skill I will never have.

“I’m no priest material”

“I know”

She says while giggling.

“What can I do for you today?”

The priestess gets in a more serious mood.

“I was wondering about the instructor who was here the other day, the one with the shield”

“So you are looking for Sir Francis”

I nod.

“He only comes here at night, may I ask what do you want from him?”

“I was wondering about shield skills, after looking around at the training centers I figured out I may learn something different from an instructor in the temple”

She looks at me with curiosity in her eyes.

“What makes you think that?”

“His shield looked different and I figured as a follower of Naleya he may practice a different skill”

She nods.

“You are right, our knights learn shield related skills from Goddess Naleya teachings”

Then it may not be possible for me to learn from him.

As if she knew what I was thinking.

“Don’t worry, Sir Francis can teach you basic skills but it is harder to learn in comparison to normal shield skills”

“I want to learn here, please”

She smiles, somehow I get the feeling she already knew I was going to say that.

“You will have to wait until he arrives in a couple of hours, meanwhile I would like if you keep me company”

“It would be my pleasure”

She giggles.

“It’s a pity that my friend Victoria can’t come here, I’m sure you two would get along”

“Is Victoria an instructor in the temple?”

I think it’s strange for a NPC to talk about another person without being asked, it may be a quest or something like that.

“No, Victoria is an adventurer like you, she has been learning from me this past week”

Interesting, it doesn’t look like the priestess teaches to just any player, besides she said my friend meaning they already got quite intimate.

“And why is it that she can’t come here?”

“She is in the middle of a task I gave her”

I’m a curious person, if possible I would like to meet this Victoria person.

“Why do you think we would get along?”

She giggles.

“You two have a very similar aura, I must say I was quite surprised to meet you both in the same day, people with similar auras are quite rare”

“What do you mean aura?”

She gets serious again and remains silent for a moment.

“I’m sorry, I forgot you are an adventurer, aura is the energy that surrounds the body, every person has unique traits in their aura making it very difficult for two people to have similarities”

I see, now I’m curious as to why we have similar auras. Does it have to do with the fact that we are both adventurers, I don’t think so, the priestess sees other players every day.

“Having similar auras, does it have a meaning?”

“Based on Naleya’s teachings, when two people have similar aura means that they are compatible, you could even say that they are meant to be together”

She laughs.

My expression must be quite hilarious, I don’t believe in fate or things like that, besides, how could a game tell all that information?

Now that I think about it, Naleya is the goddess of love, that’s why her teachings say that, it’s possible that if I go to ask to temple of the god of war it may have a different meaning.

“Don’t think about it too much, you will figure out what I mean soon enough”

I will do whatever it takes to prove her wrong, I won’t meet this Victoria person.

After that we talk about different things until evening.

“Sir Francis should already be here, go find him”

“Thank you priestess”

I stand and start walking.

“William”

I turn around and see her pouting.

“My name is Daniah, please remember it”

“I will, if everything works out I’m going to be around here for a while”

She smiles.

Then I go inside the temple and after a few minutes I find Sir Francis.

“Sir Francis?”

The man looks at me with curiosity.

“How do you know my name?”

“I was here the other day while you were talking to the priestess”

He remains silent for a while, he clearly is trying to remember.

“The kid looking for the headmaster, now I remember”

I sigh.

“Are you looking for the priestess again?”

“No, I was just with miss Daniah a few minutes ago.”

He looks shocked.

“Why? How do you know her name? It took me months to ask”

Then he keeps muttering things to himself.

“Could it be? Do you like her?”

He looks at me while blushing, didn’t expect this character from a man who looks so serious.

“Wh.. what? Ho.. how?”

He is clearly nervous.

“It’s quite obvious by your expression when you heard her name”

He looks down.

Awkward silence remains for a couple of minutes.

Sir Francis looks at me, he finally realized something.

“What do you need from me?”

“I was wondering if you could teach me how to use a shield”

He frowns.

“I’m not here to teach, my duty is to protect this temple”

I thought so, no wonder there are no other players learning about shields here.

It’s lucky that I have a secret card to play.

“I was told by miss Daniah that you were the best person to ask about shield skills”

He looks quite pleased.

“Of course, if the priestess said it I have to prove her right”

He puts a hand on his chest while looking proud of himself.

“Come with me kid”

As I follow him we go inside an empty room, quite a spacious place.

Take this, he hands me his shield.

Seconds later he takes out his sword and gets in a position of attack and swings his sword towards me.

“Wait”

I’m confused. Looks like he isn’t the kind to explain things.

“You just have to block my sword and don’t move from that spot, if you can hold back my attacks without moving you will learn something”

‘Skill Learning: Naleya’s Shield

To learn this skill you will have to become a wall against your enemies, hold back the attacks without stepping back’

I put the shield in front of me, Sir Francis attacks me.

When the sword and the shield collide, the impact pushes me back and I hit my back against the wall.

‘Health -15’

What a monster, how much strength does he have? Those were at least ten meters that he pushed me back.

“Looks like I will have to hold back a little more”

He says while looking amused.

Hold back more? He was holding back, now I’m afraid.

“Don’t worry, you can’t die inside this room, you will just get knocked out for a few minutes”

I hope this doesn’t last for a week, I don’t think I can take this for a whole week.

“What are you waiting for? Come back here”