Chapter 7: Training_Arcanis

CHAPTER 7: TRAINING

A short silence followed, as the younger members of the team digested that statement. Finally, Towlar recovered enough to ask.

"Uhm, guys ... who exactly are you talking about anyway?"

Ricardo grinned at the young scout. "Right, you don't know the fellow yet. Let's just say that some practitioners of the magical arts are on dark side of things."

"At least he's not as arrogant as the average for his kind" Maria threw in "With him you can at least talk without feeling the need to murder him after the first sentence."

"Right." Thomas interrupted before the conversation completely lost track. "Other than getting us some training guidance, we also did a little impromptu training with some really interesting results."

The warrior grinned evilly as the others looked up at his emphasis on the 'interesting'. "Suffice it to say, once he's got that trained up and some experience, none of us should bet anything valuable when playing cards with the latest card-shark in Erfurt."

"No way" Maria shook her head in light disbelieve "He got gambling on the first evening?"

"If it were only that ..." Thomas added as the others looked at the aspiring wizard in consternation. "He even unlocked his Luck attribute."

Silence once again governed the room.

After a few seconds, Arcanis spoke up "Not that I want to complain, Thomas, but wasn't it you who said that I really should keep knowledge of that to myself and not tell anybody?"

"A good recommendation" Maria answered in Thomas' stead "but you can't keep it from your own team. Your team is with you all of the time and we do play together quite a bit. It is rather likely we would notice and it would break trust."

The others nodded at that and Thomas continued.

"Well, that is pretty much the way it is. Hence the announcement. Anyway, one more reason to train you up so you can join us in the dungeon ..." he nodded at both Arcanis and Tow. "Both of you probably don't know, but the Luck attribute is one of the more ... interesting attributes out there.

"It is completely unpredictable whether you unlock it or not. Most never do and Arcanis is the first team member to do so. The benefits are ambiguous at best, but all agree it is better to have it than not. We do know one thing though: It improves the loot found in a dungeon."

Tow whistled at that and Maria grinned in anticipation. "Sooo ..." she drawled while grabbing a set of cards "Why don't we train up our new lucky charm with a game of Ravenda?"

* * *

You have raised the skill: Healer to level 2

+1 Mana, +1% Power of benevolent healing magic effects

You have raised the skill: Magic for Dummies to level 4

+1 Power, -2% Spell Cost of Simplified Spells

You have raised the skill: Gaming to level 5

+1 Dexterity, +1 Power, +1 Luck, Improved instincts for playing games

You have raised the skill: Gambling to level 3

+3 Luck, Fortune smiles upon you

"I don't believe this" Arcanis groaned. "Can't you show at least a little mercy? It's been a long day already ..."

Two hours later and even though they were playing for coppers, he was feeling fleeced. The young wizard had lost and lost and then lost some more. The odd thing was ... he had noticed the Gaming skill giving him some instinctual feeling for what to do. Those feelings had made sense, it was the smart thing to do ... and each time he followed it, the result felt as if he had been walking into a trap.

"I don't really understand it" he continued "shouldn't I be the lucky one? But each time I follow instincts or a hunch, you are ready to pounce on me."

"Wellll ..." Thomas answered "... that's kind of the point of this last lesson of the day. And it's an important one: Skills are not a magic trick. They work in a given manner, they offer guidance, but they do not replace actual skill. Rather than Skill."

"Think about it this way" Maria added "All of us also have the Gaming Skill at least, and at a higher level. We also have a lot of personal experience with the game and the way the Skill offers us intuitive hints. So all of us can pretty much guess what the Skill is telling you and plan for that."

Arcanis visibly pondered on that for a bit. "Huh. That makes a lot of sense. Still makes me feel cheated by the System, but still ... a very good point."

The warrior nodded sympathetically. "The same is true for pretty much all the Skills out there. Great numbers help - they help a lot actually - but there is no replacing real effort to get real gains. And while the System does not revoke skill levels, if you let things get rusty, you will have to retrain to get used to it again.

"That is no less true, and even more important when it comes to combat skills."

* * *

The building was ... large. Now that he actually saw it, Arcanis had no trouble understanding why people called it the Guildhall. They were close to the inner wall and the three stories high building's stone-front covered half the block. The entrance was richly decorated, a well equipped warrior wearing a shiny full-plate armor with a sword & shield combination standing guard. Lots of marble in sight, but no windows on the first floor.

Thomas grinned and waved expansively at the building, as he undeniably pronounced "Welcome to the adventurer guild!" He then gave the aspiring wizard an expectant look, observing for reaction.

Arcanis raised an eyebrow at the warriors overacting "Not exactly what I expected, to be honest. A bit too ... grand? Yes, grand is the word I think."

Thomas nodded with a smirk before leading his young companion not to the door, but to the intersecting street beside the building, leading to its backside. "Yeah, that's the customer entry. Mostly for the city administrators, nobles, merchant association and the various guilds."

Reaching the next road crossing, Arcanis was able to see that, yes, the guildhall actually spanned the entire block in depth. Reaching the side opposite from the glorious marble entry, they reached a small plaza that gave an utterly different image. The guildhall building was most unostentatious, looking more like an inn than anything else. The plaza was otherwise ringed by shops catering to the adventurer - be it sturdy clothes, alchemical goods, weapons, armor or other tools of the trade. The only oddity could be found in the center, which was a plain, guarded stone building.

The warrior led him through the entrance of the guildhall. Inside, it fulfilled all expectations Arcanis had of an adventurer guild: A decently covered jobs board to the left, a receptionist behind a large counter, talking with a trio of rough men clad for combat straight ahead. On the right hand, lowered by two steps, a large area filled with tables and chairs, some adventurers busy with breakfast. It was rather peaceful, silent conversations creating a slight background murmur, with none loud enough to listen in on.

They queued for the reception desk, which did not take too much time and a few minutes later the trio in front of them moved over to the dining area.

"Well, well, well, if it is not mister Endosi, joining us in our humble abode" The receptionist - an older gentleman, probably reaching for seventy - greeted them with a cheerful grin on his face. "Is it just me or do I indeed catch you corrupting yet another impressionable youngling?"

The two men shook hands, Thomas grinning back at the man. "Well, you know how it is. The younger they are, the faster we can get them on the path of evil." The warrior patted the aspiring wizard on the back "This is Arcanis, gentleman, scholar ... aspiring Adventurer."

Thus prompted Arcanis smiled at the receptionist and too shook hands with him. "Pleasure making your acquaintance, mister ..."

"Delgado, Quentin Delgado, it is a pleasure to welcome a new neophyte to our not-so-sacred halls." The old man greeted him with a friendly smile. "Alright mister Endosi, I can see the lad is a likely enough fellow. I can also see him not being quite ready yet to join however. So ... to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, simply put ..." Thomas answered "... we want him good to go as soon as possible, so I'm going to train him up to readiness. Figured on renting a training hall here, seeing as Seamus' doesn't really have enough space for some serious sparring."

"You are in luck - had you come yesterday I would have been forced to refuse you, as we were booked out. However, most fortuitously, team Raven found an escort contract and cancelled their remaining training time. With the guild rate ..." the gentlemen cheerfully blinked at the aspiring wizard "... which we will assume applies fully, that would be one silver per day. As you represent a well-established, renown team - present trouble notwithstanding - we can waive the security deposit.

"However mister Endosi ..." his gaze returned to the warrior, growing quite stern indeed "... be aware that misses Ramona was quite put off with the state you left the last training hall you inflicted your presence - and skills - upon. I have been instructed to inform you, that in the unlikely event that you should repeat your antics, she will endeavor to engage Rivan and Sons for the next repair job, should that become necessary."

Thomas winced at that, hand going unconsciously to his purse. "Yeah, we'll try to avoid that fate. It would never do to disturb dear Ramona's equilibrium, would it?" He withdrew a few coins from his purse and placed them on the counter, while the receptionist nodded in benign assent. "We'll take the hall for the full week."

The old gentleman nodded, taking the coins and verifying payment. Once satisfied he withdrew the last key from a board that was designed to hold quite a few of them and deposited it in front of Thomas. "Here you are, mister Endosi. Training hall eight is now reserved for you and your team."

* * *

"Who is Ramona and what was that about Rivan and Sons?"

They had moved down the a hallway deeper into the guild building and entered a room labeled with a big '8'. It was a fairly austere training room, with enough space for the entire team to practice, have sparring matches or do whatever exercises needed. A weapons-rack held a wide variety of wooden training weapons, some protective gear and other training utilities were also available.

"Ramona Tharsus is the master of the local branch of the Adventurer Guild. We don't know all that much about her, as she's a recent transfer, but apparently she was rather successful in mapping the Zar. She supposedly found a gold rank dungeon in its center and established a guild presence there." Thomas answered, while browsing the weapons rack, looking for something. "Oh, right, the Zar. A magical desert on the south-eastern border. Anyway, she establish guild primacy, defying the local nobility - what there is of it in a desert, anyway - and bringing in everything needed to establish a proper guild outpost.

"After that she got promoted and ... well, here she is, wrangling our nobles." The warrior nodded at something only he could see "And better her than me, thank the heavens! Anyway, she's got a sense of humor, enjoys messing with members who don't know her yet, and - most important of all - she is utterly unyielding when it comes to prerogatives of the guild.

"Oh, and she is pretty much invincible, as far as locals are concerned. Remember our chat on classes and how it takes lots of resources to get the really great ones?" Arcanis nodded in confirmation. "Well, pretty sure she has an incredible mix of advanced classes and the skills to back it. I got to see her and Rufus spar - Rufus had been the strongest guild member hereabout - and it was a one-sided slaughter.

"Anyway, two of the things she keeps a sharp eye on are branch finances and member training, and there was a slight accident the last time I booked a training hall. Which is where her threat of Rivan and Sons comes in. They are the premier building company in all of Erfurt and they fundamentally refuse to work with anything less than marble or ancient oak. The bill would ruin us."

Arcanis again nodded in understanding while Thomas finally found what he was looking for. Grabbing two long, wooden daggers he threw one of them at the youngster. The younger man caught the weapon on the grip end and, out of habit, tried spinning it single-handedly, immediately fumbling it and dropping the weapon. Dang, this body can't keep up with old reflexes. The warrior waited patiently as the aspiring wizardly sheepishly picked up the weapon he dropped.

"Well" Thomas continued "whatever you trained in previously, it apparently wasn't daggers." he held his own hand holding a wooden dagger to the side in order for it to be easier to see how he held it. "This is how you hold a dagger. Wood or no wood, a dagger ain't a toy, so don't play with it. Now, before we get started swinging and stabbing, there are a few things you need to know about fighting in general, considering how you messed up your first fight. The thing about the way attributes work and how you progress in your skills is that it's mostly about setting yourself up for executing your best special maneuver skills.

"You can swing a weapon with just the base skill, but without the maneuver power multiplier, they are not going to be doing much. At least not against a trained opponent or resilient monster. Just for reference, you could probably stab me in the eye with that dagger and I'd walk away just fine. Once you approach the hundred-fifties in your stats that won't be true anymore - stats matter a lot - but it will still require an unreasonably lucky hit to seriously maim me.

"With a maneuver skill, that's a different story. And that's where daggers have their greatest weakness: The short range automatically places you at a disadvantage, making your own movements and maneuverability more important than your actual ability to swing or stab that blade of yours."

Thomas shifted his balance and took up a stance, obviously getting ready to hand out some trouble. "Well boyo, time to get to dashing, swinging and stabbing"

* * *

"Demon"

Arcanis laid on the floor, panting, drenched in his own sweat and blood. Mostly sweat, though it did not feel like it.

"Now don't pretend you didn't like it, boyo" The older warrior offered a cheerfully sadistic grin. "Why, by the end you even lasted a few seconds at a time!"

"Monster" The young man managed to groan somewhat intelligible.

"Well, I hate to admit it, but that's pretty much it for today and you did stick with it, so I suppose kudos for persistence. Check your Status updates - should have been worth the trouble."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Thus prompted, Arcanis did check out his լStatus˥ and had to admit, the gains were ... significant.

You have raised the skill: Dodge to level 3

+1 Agility, +5% Speed for the purpose of evading attacks

You have raised the skill: Dodge to level 4

+1 Agility, +5% Speed for the purpose of evading attacks

You have raised the skill: Dodge to level 5

+1 Agility, +5% Speed for the purpose of evading attacks

You have raised the skill: Weapon: Dagger to level 2