The week was a series of instructions followed by training. They tried to pound as much information into our heads as possible in the seven days before we were deployed to the north. They even threw some weapon practice in.

Chuck had the advantage with his level two short sword skill. The others didn't have the physical endurance to keep up. Chuck even heard J.C. Velin call his skill acceptable, which was the highest praise the man would give. The others just earned a derisive snort.

Vigo was livid that he couldn't get the hang of swordplay. He had excelled his entire life at magic. He looked over at Chuck and the precise movements he made with the sword. Vigo had been given the bladed weapon skill and told to train it to level five along with the rest of the team. He had to admit that in a fight it may come in handy if he ran out of mana. It was just so frustrating that the Short Sword training was so slow.

"Dammit, Chuck, how are you so much better at this?" he hissed, not expecting the younger man to hear him.

Chuck paused, "Um... months of training mostly. Trust me, you are better than I was at that stage. You just need to continuously practice, eventually, your muscles just kind of know what to do."

Vigo turned his head, the embarrassment creeping into his cheeks. Truth was he admired Chuck, the kid may not be the most adept but he made up for it with sheer determination. Of course, Vigo hadn't had this opinion the first time he met Chuck. Then he thought the kid was a bit of a buffoon.

It was true the kid bested him in combat but most of that was arrogance on his part. He corrected that issue and Chuck had never won a match against him since. He did come close a few times, the kid always seemed to pull out one surprise after another. Despite the losses, he learned, and each fight after was more difficult for Vigo.

He didn't know where Chuck got all the energy, he must practice constantly, just to keep up with the number of spells he acquired. Vigo knew he could add maybe fifteen more spells to his repertoire before his other spells started to suffer. That was fine, there were a few skills he no longer needed after he finished classes. He would let those atrophy to free up space for more in the future.

Vigo focused his mind back on practice. He needed to hit level one in the short sword skill before they left in a few days.

Chuck watched the others practice diligently from the corner of his eye. A small smile ran across his face as he watched them improve. He improved as well, he was now over halfway to level three with a hundred and fifty-one out of three hundred training points earned. That wasn't all, hide in plain sight had finally finished. He pulled up the skill, chuckling at the description.

Hide in Plain Sight: People will assume you are a trick of the light. 100% chance to remain undetected while standing or walking in the open. 90% chance to remain undetected while walking or running in the open. Lasts 5 minutes or until spotted.

Chuck knew that nothing was a hundred percent effective. Harlo had explained this to him one day.

"Sure a spell can say it's a hundred percent effective but what about other skills that enhance someone else's ability to fight against it or are unaffected by the skill, this effectively renders the spell less effective, how much will depend on the spell or skill. Think of the one hundred percent as a baseline for someone without any counter."

Chuck knew he had been correct. Even when he used the skill while sparing against the soldier mages it had been easily countered by another spell. It was still a powerful ability he intended to use as much as possible. 'If they can't see me they can't attack me.'

He was bummed that it hadn't unlocked another tier, he had hoped for true invisibility but perhaps that was too much to hope for.

Chuck was getting anxious about the coming war. While mages were the bane of the battlefield for most, they weren't the only thing to worry about. There were combat skills as well, they weren't as popular in Nur as trained skills but the Junior Commander had taken them to watch a match between two.

One had trained in the long sword and even passed the common skill, into a skill called sword forms. The other had purchased a few attack-oriented skills. Chuck hadn't gotten the name of them but it didn't matter for the demonstration.

While the trained swordmaster was more fluid with his movements the other had been able to hold him off for a time using his odd skills. Chuck gave them simple names like lightning thrust or parrying strike. He realized he had seen skills like this used before without realizing it. Mellas had used one in the Orc encounter. Chuck had thought it odd how that dagger seemed to leap into the man's hand.

This revelation had only cemented the fact that he stood little chance in a one on one encounter with someone honed in these skills, at least without his magic that was. With it, he figured his chances were a little better than even.

Training ended two days later, as ten open wagons pulled into the army barracks. Groups of freshly trained soldiers and mages were piled onboard. This was our ride to the front line. It wasn't all of the soldiers being sent to the front. Most of these wagons contained officers. Unlike back on Earth, officers, at least in Nur, were combat troops for the main part. Though Commanders and above weren't seen often at the front.

The leaders wanted us fresh for battle, our Junior Commander had already been issued orders for when we arrived. Our goal was to take the fort at Khaden's pass from the Vitorians. From what J.C. Velin relayed to our team, a thousand soldiers were defending the fort along with twenty mages.

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This had been chosen as the first target due to its strategic value. Chuck wasn't aware of the specifics and he didn't ask. J.C. Velin had been very clear about not questioning orders.

As the wagons were leaving, Chuck could see hundreds of conscripted soldiers. They were being lined up with whatever gear they arrived with. Chuck had pictured pitchfork-wielding peasants but most had either a spear or a sword. Each was wearing the tabard of the kingdom and waiting. Chuck saw a few mages in the mix, it was easy to tell by the lack of weapon and their robes.

The ride was not comfortable, the wagons bounced over ruts and bumps in the road as the wagons set a quick pace. Chuck had a death grip on the sides of the cart, wishing suspension had been invented on this world. He looked around, noticing he wasn't the only one that looked about to lose their lunch.

The ride slowed a bit toward sunset, eventually coming to a complete stop. The landscape hadn't changed, the ever-present grassland surrounded them still.

"Alright, everyone off, time to set up camp!" J.C. Velin yelled as he jumped from the wagon.

While our Junior Commander wasn't the only one on this wagon he was the senior of the two. Everyone hustled to comply, pulling the large canvas roll from the center of the wagon. The tent was laid out before we went back and dragged the poles from the wagon bed.

Chuck had to admire the ingenuity of the design. The poles used for the tent doubled as the flor of the wagon. You just needed to fold the benches up to remove the bamboo-like poles. The wagons weren't made of wood, it being much too rare and expensive in the grasslands. That actually helped the wagons to be extremely light, for their size. The only wood on the wagon was used for the outer rim of the wagon wheel. The inner hub was made of bronze while the wooden outer hub was wrapped in iron.

Chuck had not seen the stalk forests as some called the places where the bamboo-like plants grew, it was off to the east of Brightwater. The material was flexible and strong, growing quickly from what he was told. It made it cheap to use.

The group finished putting the tent up twenty minutes later. The wagons circled the small encampment, protecting it from any large predators or attacks.

"Junior Commander Velin," a taller man said, heading for their group.

"Commander Merf, what can I do for you," J.C. Velin replied with a fist to his chest.

"Since your group was the first to get their tent up I am assigning them to first watch, see that it is carried out."

"At once Commander," Velin replied.

Velin turned toward them after the Commander left. "You heard him, split into two teams and patrol. Vigo, you're with me."

Chuck and the others saluted, breaking into two groups. Chuck got placed with Raina, not that he minded. She was a quiet mousy woman, she wasn't a stunner by any stretch of the imagination but she wasn't a bad-looking woman. She had a girl next door or a nerdy beauty vibe going on. He knew better than to underestimate her though, she had kicked his ass in sparing sessions on more than one occasion.

Chuck caught the woman looking at him and she turned away, he swore he saw a blush creep up her face. He decided to make some small talk while they patrolled.

"So... first time away from Brightwater?" he asked awkwardly.

"No," she replied in her squeaky cute voice.

Chuck had to slap himself mentally, 'keep focused dummy.'

"Oh really, not born in the city?"

"No, Chelwisk," she added quietly.

"Oh, the guild capital city," Chuck replied, smiling.

She nodded her head, looking at me from the side of her eyes.

Chuck found it hard to get more than a two word answers out of the woman. She didn't bother asking him any questions but he spotted her looking at him a few times from the corner of his vision. He figured the woman was just shy.

Chuck noticed movement in the thigh-high grass, putting a finger to his lips to silence the already quiet woman. He kicked himself mentally again, whispering, "wait here, ill be right back."

As Raina nodded Chuck faded from view, while she had seen him use the ability before it was much more effective now. She couldn't see him at all. That was probably a good thing, she could finally get her nerves under control. 'Nobody should be that good looking,' she thought glumly.

Raina heard a squeak and whipped her head toward the sound, spell in hand, and ready to release. Chuck stood there, sword buried in a caterwok. The large rodents were a pain and would seek out any nearby food. While not inherently dangerous they would attack if you got between them and a meal.

"How did you see it?" Raina asked, not being able to see much outside the glow of the campfires as the sun had already set.

"Oh, I got a skill called enhanced vision while in the wilds."

Raina's eyes went big at hearing this. "You were in the wilds?"

Her parents had told her stories of the wilds, about beastes that could rip men apart, and about magical creatures that could do all sorts of nasty stuff.

"Yea, I was kind of found out in the wilds, well the Erg jungle really."

Chuck didn't think the woman's eyes could grow any larger but they did.

"Wha- But how, how did you survive?"

Chuck shrugged. " I got lucky mostly, spent a few days wandering around before I stumbled upon some adventurers that saved me."

"What was it like?" she asked quietly.

Chuck had to think about how to respond to the question. "I would like to say quiet and peaceful, but that would be a lie. But there was something majestic about being so far away from civilization. I guess it felt freeing."

Raina nodded along. "We should bury the body, the smell of blood could attract bigger animals."

Chuck agreed, it took them a bit to bury the corpse, neither had a tool for the job or a spell that worked well. Chuck finished covering the hole. When he looked up he spotted Darfon and Jala heading toward them.

"See anything interesting," the man asked in his deep voice.

"Just a caterwok," Raina replied.

"Bleh, hate those stupid things. At least you saw some action, our patrol has been quiet."

"Speaking of we should get back to it," Jala stated flatly.

"You nag more than my mother," Darfon said as the two walked away.

Chuck had to stifle a chuckle as Jala hit Darfon with an air blade, causing the man to jump away and rub the wounded shoulder.

The rest of their watch shift was uneventful. A new group came out to relieve them after four hours. The four of them met up before heading into camp and Chuck was nice enough to heal Darfon's cuts. The man had earned a few more in the last four hours. It was a good thing none had gotten infected.

When they got to the tent the J.C. was waiting. "Anything to report?"

"Just a single caterwok that Chuck dealt with," Jala replied.

"Did you dispose of the corpse?" He asked, turning to face Chuck.

"Yes, Raina and I buried it."

"Good, I'll tell the other J.C. to keep an eye out. Now get some sleep, we leave at first light."

Chuck wasn't about to argue with that order. He headed into the tent with the rest of the people from their wagon and was out almost as soon as his head hit the pack he used as a pillow.