I got back to Martha’s and there was a delicious hot stew ready for me. My cooking skill told me a couple of the ingredients and I made a note to pick up the previously unknown spices. It was starting to get late so I went up to my room and went to sleep. Once I woke up at midnight, I spent the next 8.5 hours… my time until 5 am reading the Artifice book. It was very interesting. Artifice’s worked by binding a spell to a working mechanism or other physical device. For example, a creator that also had the fire spell could attach the fire spell with a limit to the amount of mana drawn to a device with a trigger. It would then activate the fire spell with the trigger was pulled and maintain it until the stop trigger was activated. This was the most popular and usually cheapest Artifice you could buy as everyone wanted it.

I had seen the creator skill in the Skills page, but hadn’t gotten it because I had no idea what it was. I figured I would get it and then as I worked with Sara try to level it up naturally. She seemed like a natural teacher. People who are passionate about their work can often go one of two ways depending on their temperament. If they are naturally kind, they are also natural teachers, loving to spread the word about their favorite topic. Then there are the kind who find relationships somewhat bothersome. They tend to eschew taking students or interaction with people who know less than they do in general. I didn’t know Sara’s background, but with the place she lived in it was obvious she was upper class. Far from a rich snob, she was kind and loved to share her thoughts even with someone like me, who knew nothing.

At 5 am the guild opened. I decided I needed to do at least a job every day to help out and also keep working on my own level and skills. Today I also had another question for the staff. When I got there Electra was just opening the doors. She smiled and said

“Hello Jake! You are early today. I heard you donated some gear for the orphans. That is so kind of you!”

“Morning Electra. Sorry I missed you on your lunch break yesterday. How are you this morning?” Trying to change the subject. I was happy to help other people out, but being thanked for it made me embarrassed. Plus, I really did feel I owed the guild for their help during my first month here.

“I am doing great. What are you looking for? Another job? They are just putting up the new ones now.”

“Yes that and I had a question if you have a minute.”

“Of course. What can I help you with?”

“Well I am thinking of taking lessons for the sword and need a recommendation.”

“Oh, that I can help with. Come with me.” She said and headed to her area.

I followed and sat down and she said “The best way to go about that is to put up a request on the boards for what it is you want with some requirements to weed out people who don't know what they are doing. For sword craft I would suggest a minimum of Iron rank with experience teaching through the guild before and either military background or previous teaching experience from a known sword art academy.”

That caught my attention. “What is a sword art academy?” I asked.

“Sword art academies are schools for teaching the nobility.” She said with a knowing smile, dashing my hopes for checking one out. “Teachers at schools are limited to the best fighters. Those who have gained renown for their exploits using the sword. Some Adventurers only use the sword in their hunts hoping to gain enough fame to teach there. They are well paid positions. That said they will still teach for the guild at times as a way to pay back the help they received while here.”

“I see.” I said. “let’s put it up at as you suggested.”

“Great.” She said. “what level experience would you put your sword craft?”

I smiled and said “low. It is my least proficient weapon and my teacher was heavily focused on the bow.” Hoping to not sound completely incompetent.

She nodded and filled out the request. “As you are a guild member you get a discount for requests such as this. It will cost 2 large copper coins to post. What do you want to offer as payment? Usually pay is by the day.”

I had no idea so I asked “what is customary for teaching beginners?”

“Well it isn’t so much the level being taught to, but the skill of the teacher that determines the pay.” I nodded along so she continued. “If you want an hour with a talented teacher from say the military it can cost 10-20 silvers an hour. Most young adventurers will do an hour every few days. A well known instructor from the academy can run as much as a 50 silvers up to even a gold an hour.”

Wow. I thought that is some steep prices for an academy teacher. I wasn’t worried about paying it. Even if working or Sara didn’t work out I could just take on a bunch of jobs and pay it off. I didn’t need an extravagant life and I truly felt that I was behind the curve when it came to sword fighting. There was only one thing that worried me.

“Are people who teach at academies the arrogant sort? I am used to dealing with people in the military, but I don’t know about the academy.”

Elecrtra looked thoughtful. “Hmm. That is a good question. Arrogance doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be a good teacher though. That said if they are coming back here to teach it is usually because they are good people who want to give back to their roots so I think you are safe either way. You can also cancel a contract at any time if you don’t like the person.”

I smiled feeling at ease after hearing all that. “You’re right. I’m overthinking things, aren’t I? Please put that I am looking to pay a gold per hour and would like several hours a week.”

She nodded and started filling out the rest of the form. “I’m putting Silver rank since the payment is so high then she said.” I paid the fee and she said “It will probably be a few days before someone comes in at this level. Please be patient and I will send you word if I don’t see you that day. Did you let the guild know where you are staying?”

“Yes, I did. I better go get a job or two to start saving up for this then.” I said and went to the board to check the new notices.

There were already a couple of early risers there and we nodded at each other before looking at what was available. I found two that were close to each other that caught my eye. One was a high-level Orc and the other was a Pelur. The Pelur wasn’t very high, but still paid and I wanted to see how I stood against something that had nearly taken me out just a month and a half ago.

It turns out it was kind of anticlimactic. I put a lot of prep into it as well. I set up jump points around it and jumped in while in time stop and Analyzed it and jumped back out.

Race: Pelur

Level: 35

Age 12

Wisdom 2 (Mana 1, Mana Control 0, Knowledge 0, Mana Regen 1/10min)

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Intellect 21 (memorization 1, recall 1, Speed of thought 18)

Strength 44 (Attack 3, speed 34, endurance 7)

Constitution 6 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 2, Protection 3)

Agility 18 (control of movement 10, balance 7, learning new skills 1)

Will 10 (Discipline 1, Ability to overcome adversity 1, desire to win 2, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)

Charisma 2 (Good Looks 1, Luck 1, Communication 0, negotiations 0, leadership 0)

Skills: Acrobatics 23, Slash 15

Then with Camouflage on I slowly snuck up to and was almost on top of it before it even knew I was there. As soon as it started to look for me (smell? Not sure how it knew) I stopped time and took it out. I was happy I was so much better at hunting. I was a little embarrassed about my previous fight now though. I realized if I was at that low a level, I was luckier than even I thought that I didn’t die sooner. I still hadn’t seen anyone with my level luck, but I resolved to put another point in sometime soon!

My next target was an Orc magic warrior. They were rare. The flyer had said Iron rank group or silver suggested. I was technically allowed to take it, but had to rely on my communication level to do my convincing for me. Electra nearly had a conniption fit when I tried to take the job. It wasn’t just to take out the Orc, but back track it and look for a group of them to see if this was a scout. It struck me that this was the same type of job Hert and Finny had been on when they had come across me. Orcs, unlike Ogres, can often be found in groups. An Orc Warrior at high level was getting to the point it might be striking out on its own though. Whichever it was I needed to take care of the Orc and report back.

I came upon the Orc in Camouflage and thought I would try just taking it out instead of activating Time Stop first. That turned out to be a mistake. I was cocky after the Pelur and paid for it. As I got close the Orc stopped moving and swung out his club so fast that it clipped me on my chest and sent me sprawling. I hit it with Analyze and jumped to my safe point I had set up.

Race: Orc Warrior variant.

Level: 48

Age: 40

Attitude towards you: Hostile

Wisdom 7 (Mana 4, Mana Control 1, Knowledge 1, Mana Regen 1/10min)

Intellect 8 (memorization 1, recall 1, Speed of thought 6)

Strength 65 (Attack 47, speed 11, endurance 7)

Constitution 9 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 4, Protection 4)

Agility 12 (control of movement 6, balance 5, learning new skills 1)

Will 11 (Discipline 2, Ability to overcome adversity 4, desire to win 4, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)

Charisma 6 (Good Looks 0, Luck 1, Communication 1, negotiations 1, leadership 3)

Skills: Club Mastery 5, Smash 12, Enemy Sense 3

As soon as I got there I started to cycle mana through where I had been hit and used Injury Evaluation as I was having trouble breathing

1 Punctured right lung

2 Fracture of the right T4 and T5 rib anterior.

3 Contusion right front pectoral muscle and skin

4 Mild concussion

Hmm… I must have hit my head when I landed too. Everything else was as I expected. Could have been much worse. If I had hit me head hard enough to be knocked out I could be dead now. I pulled a healing potion from my Inventory and downed it while trying to breath as best I could. I focused on my rib and lung first to get my breathing under control. After I downed the healing potion my head started to clear and I realized I had been a little fuzzy. It took about 2 agonizing minutes between my mana cycling and my healing potion before my health showed 100%. I could hear the Orc roaring and crashing around looking for me. It must think I was still camouflaged hiding nearby it. I looked at the stats for it again and was amazed at both its strength and also noted that it had the highest leadership I had seen in a Monster. It also had some mana. Must be why they start to form their own groups at this level. It also had a skill called Enemy Sense. I bet that is why it could tell I was there. I doubted it had great smell. If it did it would die of its own smell!

‘Well.’ I thought ‘I better quit messing around.’ I put Camouflage back on and walked back towards it. When I got close enough, but not so close it would be able to sense me, I stopped time and finished it. I then backtracked it for 20 miles just to make sure, but didn’t see another orc anywhere. I jumped back to my room, but didn’t head to the guild right away. Trying to explain how I had covered the amount of terrain I did in just a few hours wasn’t something I thought I could do… even with high communication stats. I went and got a quick bite to eat at my café and then headed to Sara’s home. We hadn’t set a time, but I figured that showing up before 9am wasn’t polite. I knocked and the same maid from yesterday opened the door.

“Hello.” I said. “I’m here to see Sara. My name is Jake Smithson. She is expecting me.”

“Yes sir you are expected. Please step inside. She said while holding the door open”

Not wanting yesterday’s entrance to stand against me I said “I saw you, yesterday didn’t I? May I ask your name?”

“It is Clare, Sir Jake. I will announce you”

“Just Jake or Mr. Smithson if you must is fine, thank you.” She smiled at this and walked to the stairs to the workshop. Before long I heard a loud shout and thunderous steps on the stairs and I braced my self for… Sara.

Sara came running up and said “What took you so long! We have so much to do, come on!” Again, she grabbed my hand and dragged me down stairs. When we got there, she stopped and turned to me like she had suddenly remembered something. She looked very nervous and started to wring her hands.

“What’s wrong Sara?” I asked.

“I spoke with my father yesterday. He was rather perturbed I had hired you and when I refused to tell him exactly why he refused to support my bar of gold a day offer. He is a merchant and, well… demands proof of value for payment. It is kind of his thing. Can I share about your skill with him? If so, I’m sure I could get him to agree to it. Otherwise, I will have to pay you out of my funds from Artifice sales. I don’t think I can do more than 10 gold a day.”

I laughed. ‘of course, daddy wouldn’t open the purse strings for an unknown.’ I thought and said. “How about this. I keep my secret and you pay me 5 gold for half a day, but…” I stopped her before she could interrupt me to agree “you have to sing a song for me every day I come.”

Sara turned bright red, which was exactly what I was going for. I didn’t need tons of money right now and 5 gold would pay for my sword lessons leaving the rest of my funds for my daily expenses. Sara looked very torn, but then her greed for knowledge out bid her embarrassment and she said yes. She tried to have me start looking at some Artifices right away, but I said I required payment up front. 5 gold AND the song. She relented and she actually had a very pretty voice.

After that she started by trying to figure out my tier as she called it. I told her it was level ten and she got very excited. She said that that was extremely high. She said they didn’t even have much information above that. No one had raised it above that level that they could tell.

“How did the tier system get discovered?” I asked. “and the ranking system. You seem to know a lot about the specifics of Analyze.”

She ran off and came back with a book. “There was a researcher 160 years ago named Beatrice Flure that was gifted the Analyze skill from the god of life for saving a town from a plague. She developed the first potion for curing the disease through her exhaustive study. Through the next 20 years she struggled to raise its level and used Analyze on herself daily to check for changes. That information helped us understand the way people progress as they become stronger. This book is the record of her study. She is a legend for her work and my personal role model. I want to be just like her. Even if I can’t get the same gift as her I have you now. By the time she figured out how to raise Analyze she was already very old and passed away before she could raise it more than level 10. It had stagnated for a few years and then she passed away. Before she did though she developed some of the techniques used in creating today’s artifices.”

“That is amazing!” I said. “She sounds amazing. I would like to borrow that book when I’m done with the Artifice book if that is ok.”

She looked like I had asked to hand over her baby, but said “only if you promise to keep it very safe. If you damage it, I will be very cross.”

“Ok, ok.” I said laughing. “I promise now what would you like to do with our half day? You have paid with gold and song and now lecture. How can I help you?”

We spent our time until around 2pm confirming what she already knew about Analyze at my level was correct. I cast it so many times I thought my eyes would cross. She couldn't see it of course so I had to read everything and she insisted on writing it all down. Something about ‘academic integrity and the creative process.’ By the time she finally let me go, with a promise I would be back in a few days, I had a bit of a headache that I think was more psychological. She had forced a ring and necklace on me. One was an artifice shield like hers and the ring was supposed to help me replenish my mana with ambient mana twice as fast. I tried to turn her down, but she demanded I wear them if I was going to go on jobs monster hunting.

Thanking her I went back to my room to rest. I had been up since midnight after all and since some of that was in Time Slow it had actually been a pretty long day already. My time it was close to 12 hours. After a quick nap I got up freshened up and was planning on going to replace my healing potion that I had used. I had several more, but not replacing them when I used them seemed like a bad idea. I was walking down stairs when I heard someone addressing Martha. “I’m looking for Jake Smithson. The guild said that he is staying here. Do you know if he is in or can I leave a message?”