They travelled the same way they had come from, and though it would snow every so often along their journey, they were barely impeded by the snow or the terrain.

‘Must be an Iyrman feature,’ Adam thought, looking to Jurot. ‘Or maybe this area is magical too?’

The villagers accepted them quite eagerly, and their coin, with Adam dropping a gold to each village for their fee, plus an additional gold every night for each of them.

“Who is this handsome young man?” the Chief of the first village asked, looking to Nobby. “Are you married?”

“No,” Nobby replied.

“Then why don’t you marry my granddaughter?” the Chief asked, signalling to someone to bring one of her granddaughters here.

Adam quickly stepped in front. “Sorry, but he has no plans to marry at the moment. He’s currently going to higher education.”

The Chief’s eyes flashed with shock. “Oh, I didn’t realise he was a Noble.” She quickly curtsied.

“He’s not,” Adam said. “Jurot and I are going to teach him stuff, so he’ll be too busy to get married.”

“Oh?” She looked to Jurot. “You are training him.”

Jurot nodded his head. “He has the build to become a Rage Dancer.”

The Chief returned a nod, understanding what he was talking about. “Once you’re done, perhaps?”

“Perhaps,” Adam replied.

“You can’t call it higher education,” the Chief warned.

“Why not?” Adam asked, straightening up. “I’m taller than…” Adam stopped. It wasn’t because of the Chief’s look of confusion, but because Nobby was about a palm’s width taller than him. “I don’t know. It was just a joke.”

“Higher education is only for Nobles.”

“Then I guess I need to buy some more herbs,” Adam said.

“You’d like some herbs?” the Chief asked, smelling the coin she was about to make.

“Come on, Nobby,” Adam said, quickly pulling away from the money hungry Chief.

“I can’t get married?” Nobby asked.

“Of course you can, I’m just trying to save your life,” Adam said. “Plus, I know a beautiful woman who you can meet.”

Nobby nodded his head. He had long learned to trust Adam when he spoke, even if what most of what he said was nonsense. After all the things he had seen, knowing a beautiful woman he could meet was the most normal thing about Adam.

As they continued along their journey, Adam kept his promise. Not far from the Iyr was a small village, a village with perhaps a few thousand folk, a few of whom shared names with each other.

“Nobby, meet Merl, not to be confused with Chief Merl,” Adam said, patting the man’s back, motioning to the beautiful woman.

“Hello,” Nobby said, looking down to the young woman.

“Hello,” she replied, staring up at Nobby. If she hadn’t lived beside the Iyr her entire life, seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of Iyrmen travelling through her village, she would have been slightly intimidated by the heavily built mound of muscle which was Nobby.

Nobby turned a little red.

“Nobby’s a good kid,” Adam said. “He’s sixteen now.”

“Are you trying to set us up?” Merl asked.

“No,” Adam said. “I promised Nobby I’d introduce you, and that’s what I did. Whether or not you want to get set up with a soon to be Expert like Nobby is up to you.”

Merl remained staring at Adam, her brow raised. “Even if he is an Expert, why would I-“

“He’ll be an Expert?” Chief Merl asked. “He’s a big lad, but he looks to be common folk like us.”

“Common folk, sure,” Adam replied. “Means he’s a good man at heart, not yet seduced by wicked gold.”

“He doesn’t look like an Adventurer, and from the way he’s built, I’d say he was a Porter,” Merl said.

“You can tell that by just looking at him?” Adam asked.

“He did carry with him two large packs, so I assumed,” she replied.

“Oh.”

“So how will he become an Expert?” Chief Merl tilted her head towards Adam.

“He’s going to be trained by Jurot and I,” Adam explained. “He’ll be an Expert in about a year or two, three at most, probably.”

“Is becoming an Expert so easy?” Chief Merl asked.

“Uh,” Adam said, looking to Jurot. “Isn’t it?”

“It is difficult,” Jurot said.

“Well, you and I are Experts, and it didn’t take us long,” Adam said.

Chief Merl coughed. “Excuse me?”

“That is because you are, as you say, built different,” Jurot said, earnestly.

Adam coughed, trying to contain his laughter. “Right. I guess we shouldn’t use the common standards when I’m involved.”

Jurot nodded.

“All the more reason to believe that Jurot and I can train him up to be an Expert quickly,” Adam said.

“You’re both Experts?” the Chief asked, looking to Jurot.

“Yes.”

“You’re just a wee boy still,” the Chief said, reaching up to pat Jurot’s head. “How can you be an Expert so soon?”

“Adam,” Jurot replied, simply. He felt that it needed no further explanation, for his name held more questions than answers, questions he wasn’t equipped to answer.

The Chief looked to Adam. “I don’t believe you were an Expert when you came to us back then. I’d have said you were a little weaker than Jurot.”

“He can beat me,” Jurot said, confidently.

“What?” The Merls gasped together.

“Well, I mean, maybe,” Adam said. “If I can use Phantom, I could probably beat Jurot.”

“Without it, it would be much closer, but I believe you can still beat me,” Jurot replied.

“I don’t know,” Adam admitted. “I had to make an entire new weapon to beat your Grandfather, and even then I’m not that sure I can beat him.”

The Merls weren’t sure what to say or think as they heard the casual conversation of the pair. ‘What are they talking about?’

“You’re a lot stronger than you think you are, Jurot,” Adam said.

“You as well, Adam.”

“You two are very strong,” Nobby confirmed.

“How did you become an Expert so quickly?” Chief Merl asked, hoping to glean some information from the Half Elf. She could tell he was the kind to give up all kinds of information, he held that aura about him.

“Did you forget that we faced against the Dragon not long ago?” Adam asked.

“That was you! I remember now.” She rubbed her forehead. “Sorry, it’s just that with everything that’s going on, it’s hard to remember specifics.

“What’s going on?”

“The tournament was recently held, and there’s the whole matter with the next Twilight Month which we’re preparing for, and the rising of the Undead.”

“Does the Twilight Month affect you much?” Adam asked. “Sorry, I’m new around these parts still.”

“Not much, but we still wish to be careful,” Merl replied. “Well, if you need help, I’ll be sure to help out.”

“Is that a promise backed by Iyrmen?” Merl asked, looking to Jurot.

“It’s a promise backed by me, the Nephew of the Rot family,” Adam said. “I don’t know what the Twilight Month is like, and if I’m not needed in the Iyr for whatever reason, I’ll come by and help out. If I can’t, I’ll send someone else fairly capable.”

Merl sighed. “As capable as an Expert?”

“Probably not…” Adam said, before narrowing his eyes. “Actually, there is someone who is more capable than an Expert. I mean, he’s not as strong as me, but he’s not so bad.”

“Who?”

“The other Half Elf we brought along last time,” Adam said. “Jonn. I’ll see if I can’t send him along to help out. He’s not sworn his Oaths to me yet, but I can have Brittany come over to train too.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to marry my granddaughter?” Merl asked, causing her granddaughter to rub her forehead.

“I’m sure,” Adam said. “I have no plans to marry for a while. Though, Nobby is quite a strong fellow.”

“An Expert might be strong, but there are many Iyrmen who come along to help,” Merl said. “Experts aren’t quite as impressive as you think they are.”

“Experts are exactly as impressive as I think they are,” Adam said. “You’re basically guaranteed a decent life as long as you made the correct decisions.”

“If you can make him a Master, maybe I’ll think about it,” Merl said.

‘What?’ Adam thought, wondering how lewd the villagers were for a moment. “What’s a Master?”

The Merls raised their brows towards Adam.

“A Master is someone who has stepped into learning the Fifth Gate of spells,” Jurot explained.

“No,” Adam said, reaching for his heart. “No.”

“What?” Jurot asked, taken aback by Adam’s response. Somehow, the Half Elf could still surprise him.

“So the next step after Master is…” Adam asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Grandmaster.”

Adam sighed. “Of course it is.” He rubbed his eyes with his wrists, shaking his head. “Next you’ll tell me that the next step is called an Immortal.”

“No,” Jurot said. “They are known as Paragons.”

“Oh,” Adam said. “For a moment there, I thought this was a different genre.”

“What?” Jurot asked.

“Nothing.”

‘If he wasn’t so queer, I may have wanted to marry him,’ Merl thought.

“Master, huh?” Adam said. ‘So what, that would be Level 9?’ Adam used the system to check out how much Experience he needed for the next level. He shook his head, trying to contain his gasp, shocking the others around.

‘Bell, what the fuck?’

[What is the matter?]

‘Don’t start that nonsense with me! You know exactly what I’m talking about!’

[The XP required has doubled due to your quick progression.]

‘So it’s normally only ten?’

[Thousand, yes.]

‘Why has it almost doubled?’

[The moment you access a new Tier of Power, the next level usually increases for the purposes of establishing the Tier of Power you have gained.]

“What is the matter?” Jurot asked, noting the others were looking to him for answers as to why Adam was acting more queer than usual.

“Sorry,” Adam said. “I just… I found out that becoming too strong too quickly has its consequences.”

“So you do have some common sense,” Merl said.

“No,” Adam replied. “I don’t.”