They would continued their training for an entire week. On day two they learned from their individual masters more of the basics, they would progress and learn many things that week. A few hours into their second day, they were joined by other teenagers from the groups they had seen at the inn. Each afternoon they would return exhausted to town, but not alone.

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“Our job is to provide the big boom, we are not there to be hit by whatever the party is fighting, we pack the big punch from afar. We are what you would term squishy, we get hit and we hurt very easily. This term I learned from one of my students long ago. But all in all, this word does describe what would happen to us if we were directly attacked. That is why we work with a party, the tank gets hit, the healer makes sure he stays up and we put the big hurt on the enemy.” Master Gerasin had shown them some spells, but Josh was still struggling. Some of the others were quickly catching up to him, a very short girl with blonde hair had caught up and her spell work just astonishing everyone including Master Gerasin.

Master Gerasin walked around talking to the various students and encouraging them. She would correct them if they were having problems, making her way to Josh as he was still having problems.

“It’s hard Master, I am not sure what I am doing wrong.” He waved his wand at the target and cast “[Fireball]” all that came out was little sparkles, but no big boom. This was followed by “[Ice Bolt]” “[Thunder Bolt]” each while the color differed only small sparks came out.

Analyzing Spells… Analysis Complete

[Fireball] [Ice Bolt] [Thunder Bolt] – Lower-level elemental spells, spell damage is dependent on user proficiency. Must be confident in order to cast spell.

Proficiency: 25%, 18%, 12%

“It seems you lack confidence in yourself. When you came to me two days ago, you seemed so sure of yourself. Just continue to practice you will get it. Think of your friends, imagine they are in danger and try again.”

And so, he imagined that they were fighting something terrible, what would he do? He waved his wand again and casted, “[Fireball]” This time it was better, while it was a little ball of fire it was no longer the little sparkles he had. He concentrated and after many tries his [Fireball] spell looked as if it could do damage.

[Fireball] Proficiency increased to 50%

He had a way to go, but he felt that now his goal was clearer, why was he doing this? How could he improve?

“That is much better Josh. Just be confident, know that you’re protecting your party. The faster the enemy goes down the better. Let me show you how it should look, there are various levels, and this is at the same level as yours.” She raised her hands pointed at a hanging target and casted, “[Fireball]!” in comparison to Erin’s this thing was a super nova, it blasted the target and burned it to a crisp, “This is what you will be able to do Josh. Do you think that is how it looked when I started?” This took her back to her first day of training and trying to master even this simple spell.

“I will continue to practice Master. Now that I see your example, I have a goal.” He continued with his practice, he would master this, it would not look like what his master had just done, but one day.

The others around watched each other and saw that they were all different with different abilities. One had an easier time of doing the Fireball, the Thunder Bolt, or the Ice Bolt. The blonde girl caught on quick, and her specialty was the Ice Bolt, she hurled one at the target and it instantly froze.

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Bobby pointed the staff, “[Revitalize] and [Cleanse]” he had improved drastically over these few days, and he was having fun with these new abilities. They were so useful, and he would be able to keep his friends safe.

Analyzing Spells… Analysis Complete

[Cleanse] – Spell will remove one ailment from self or party member, spell may fail if proficiency is low.

Proficiency: 62%

The group had grown to ten students, and they had been split into pairs. Each casting or trying to cast a healing spell at each other. Bobby had been paired with a tall lanky teenager that wore glasses and was a year older than he was. They had been practicing on each other most of the morning and part of the afternoon.

“Well done. But you must keep an eye on your Mana. You don’t want to run out during a fight. It is important to know when to use a spell, on who, and if it is the right spell to use. Magic is not always the answer, you also have your potions they will regain health, mana, can boost your stats so your party must know when to use them.” Mother Pearl paused looking around at her students.

“Gear is important your starter gear is just that starter gear with no stat increases or any kind of bonuses. Once you start your journey you can improve your gear and dependent on the situation some gear might be better than others. You must maximize in the right way. Some of this I won't be able to teach you, only experience can teach you.” Another pause to let what she was saying sink in.

“As your teacher, I can only get you ready. Heed my words and these lessons for it could mean your survival and that of your party.” Mother Pearl sat at a chair under one of her trees she complained that in her old age she needed to sit more often. But Bobby had seen her move around as if she were younger than her years.

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Master Corvey was an astounding man; his stature did not impede him at all. He showed this throughout the training he put his group through. They spent time on breathing, just breathing, then stances, maintaining the same pose for hours he along with his students. He drilled the moves so much into their heads that they started to dream about them. At the end of the day their body’s hurt, not because their Master had beaten them in any way, it was the rigorous training they were under.

There were different weapons a tank could use as well, not just your standard Sword and Shield. A warrior could use Maces, Swords, as well as two-handed versions when not paring with a shield. When one used two handed weapons the style of fighting changed to adjust for the lack of shield. It was a bit much for Manuel trying to remember all the different moves, for now he would stick with the ever-popular sword and shield, one could not go wrong with the classics.

“All this I will drill it into your heads and bodies, but the true test is remembering this in the field and adjusting as needed. You are the front line for your party, while it is alright to let some of the enemy pass you must know when to do this. Let see your [Taunt I]” Master Corvey was at the ready.

“Here I go!” Manuel made ready and hit his sword to his shield, “[Taunt I]” You could see a change in the teacher, but it was minor, and he just stood there.

“That was good, it almost had me. Someone with less experience will most definitely take the hook. Now show me some defense.”

“[Reinforce][Wall]!” There was a shimmer in front of Manuel, for those that could see it an illusionary wall had been erected. This move greatly increasing his defense capabilities.

Analyzing Skills… Analysis Complete

[Reinforce] – Skill will increase the capability of the next defense skill being cast.

[Wall] – Erects a wall in front of the caster greatly increasing defense capability, this will degrade over time as enemies attack the wall.

Proficiency: 82%, 91%

“Not bad, is as if your house of sticks has become a house of bricks, not as easily tumbled. With further practice and experience this can become a house of steel. You are progressing very well.” Nodding in approval, he corrected Manuel’s stance slightly.

“Breathing exercises again.” The students went into breathing stance and began.

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“Your whole body can be a weapon, your hands, feet, your head, especially your head. It is not just there to hold that pink thing inside your skull. You use it all, don’t just depend on what you carry, think about what you are going to do, always have a plan. If it goes wrong be ready to improvise, in the end if you are left standing you win.” This made sense to the group but without someone pointing it out they would never have really thought about it. Why would they? They had come from a place where you did not have to worry about these kinds of things. Most of them their parents did everything for them.

With that nugget of wisdom their master went into a whirlwind of punches and kicks to demonstrate what he had just said. Then out came his daggers, one held forward the other backwards his feet well planted and his body low. Then he danced slashing right, left, up, then down every move meant to give the opponent damage. It was a beautiful sight to behold, then he stepped back he was gone, Pepe knew he had not blinked, at least he did not think so. Then he felt the blade at his back, “We are of the shadows chavalo never forget that.”

The group watching erupted cheering at their master’s show. The group now of fourteen moved to continue their training some alone others in pairs to practice. There was also a sense of competition among the students, who would be the best?

Pepe was paired with the girl that had been wearing the cheer leader outfit that he had seen at the inn. She looked at him and nodded, she moved fast, and Erin found himself on the ground a dagger to his throat. If this were a real fight, he would be dead.

“Your dead Pepe.” She smiled down at him giving him her hand so he could get up. Man was she pretty, he smiled back. She had these little dimples when she smiled, her hair was a fiery red and curly.

“Thank you Michelle I think I can see that.” He got up with her help and they reset for another round.

Pepe went down again and again, only able to get a few points in or being able to take her down. But that was the problem thought Pepe, not that she was not capable cause she was kicking his ass. It was that she was a pretty girl and he let the looks get to him. It was stupid of course he thought, he would need to get over that and fast.

Being paired with another of the boys was easy he had a day on them of training and he was able to take them down hardly ever letting them get in a point.

She stopped and frowned, she had seen him practice and she had seen him wipe the floor with the other boys, so that was the problem. “Pepe if you keep holding back because I am a girl, I am going to kick your ass up and down this room. Don’t let this pretty face stop you!”

The rest of the class had stopped and was now looking at them. Master Corta looked at his pupils and shook his head. “Everyone back to your practice!”

Pepe was read in the face and nodded at his training partner. He got serious about his training after that what other choice did he have? While she put him down quite often it was not due to letting her win, she was just that good.

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Erin wearing his green cloak looked down on the area behind his master’s house, it was wooded area, he had climbed a tree to get a better vantage point. He looked at his surroundings, his bow at the ready. His task was to spot his master, and shoot her if he could. She had gone before him disappearing into the woods. He looked left then right but saw nothing, there was not a lot of places where one could conceal themselves.

He heard the snap of a twig and turned in the direction of the noise, at least he thought that he looked in the right direction. Instead of his master a small animal came out from behind a bush, his master would not make that kind of mistake. He continued his search, he looked up at the sparse trees surrounding the area. She could easily hide in one of those tree’s while it had not terribly difficult to climb for him it would’ve be even easier for her.

“You know what my young apprentice, while it was a good attempt we may run out of time if we continue.” This was said from his left, a body detaching itself from the tree right by his branch. When had she gotten there? He had heard no noise of her climbing the tree. The students erupted in applause at their master’s skill.

“Master how?” He had seen her walk out into the woods not far from the tree he was in.

“We are rangers, we must become one with our environment. Where we walk no sound will be heard, no trace will be left of our passing. We can surprise our adversaries or bypass them entirely we do not always need to fight.” She put her hands on his shoulders and nodded, “You will know when to do one or the other.”

The other students had heard this as it was meant for the group at large. They like Erin were amazed and confused as none had seen Master Ildvesi return after moving into the forest.

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Their training had come and gone, at least to the point of where they could go out on their own as a party. Five days of hard training with their respective masters had drilled a lot into their inexperienced minds. They would need to come back to their masters once they had some experience under their belts but for now, they were done.

They walked back now in the larger groups, not all of them got along they were forming their own little groups and some of them did not talk to the others. It was human nature to get in their own little groups and to unfortunately shun or ignore others. Josh and his group were welcoming to the others, and they walked most of the time joined by others. They made it back to the inn and were ready for bed, it had been a long week.

That night they discussed what they would do the following day, “We collect on the quest tomorrow and see what else they got for us.” Josh’s eyes were closing, and he was yawning.

The rest nodded to this having no energy to talk.

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“Regi how are they coming along?” While he had looked in on them earlier in the week, it was now the end of their training, and he was eager to find out how they had done.

“Master the initial group while they had some problems at the start it seems like they are on track. And we have some surprises among the other groups as well. Some of them are quite strong, even stronger than the initial group.”

“Are we ready to debut the first dungeons?” He did not really want to put them through it, but he needed them to advance and fast, and this was how he would do it. These dungeons were his creations but the ones after that would be wild ones.

“Yes sir, the Dungeon team is ready for a demo whenever you are ready.”

“Good, good, set something up please, the faster we put them in place the better.”