I wake up feeling pretty good.  Today I want to do a lot of climbing to level my ability and only increase my level with XP from raising my skills.  That should get me a nice amount of attribute points with my next level up.  I quickly do my chores and give my parents half of the Ice Lizard steaks.   After eating some breakfast and putting two cooked steaks in my inventory for later I walk over to the Headman’s place as he requested.  I get there and knock on his door announcing myself.  He answers the door quickly and invites me into the main room for an old man is already sitting.

“I am sorry, you asked for me to stop by, but you have company, should I come back?” I say.

“Not at all, this is my Uncle Slade.” The Headman says. “Please have a seat.”

Slade is staring at me intently.  I am guessing he is inspecting me or using other similar skills.  Using inspect on him I just get some question marks.

“I asked you here Frank to more candidly discuss your abilities and what you have done over the last few days.  I know you may not want to discuss this in front of me or my uncle, but I swear by the System that this can help you and neither of us will talk about what you tell us with anyone in the village.”

I feel better with the Headman swearing by the System, but his choice of words catches my attention. “What about outside of the village?”

The uncle snorts and says. “At least he is paying attention.  I am member of a guild and I may want to discuss some of this with them, but no one else.”

“Very well, what do you want to know.”

“You just recently started to change your behavior, tell us why and what you have done since?”

I take a deep breath and start with rescuing Sara.  I find it interesting that Slade wanted to know what I thought about my actions now, so I explained my doubts and thoughts on what I should have done.  I then explained about getting the Walk Walker ability.  Then my subsequent adventures along with why I chose to do things in the order I did.  Slade seems very interested in not only what I did, but why.  They were both startled when I described how I defeated the Elemental Guardian.  Slade asked to see my spear and after thoroughly inspecting it says it is an excellent weapon.  As my tale caught up to yesterdays encounter with Hank and Justin I see Slade has a smile on his face as I describe why I didn’t kill them.

Slade looks at the Headman saying. “I should not of doubted your judgement.”  Then he turned to look at me. “You are no doubt wondering what this is all about.  I am…”

Slade is interrupted by a shout from outside. “Headman, get out here!  We have something to discuss!”  I recognize Justin fathers voice, which is going to be trouble.

The Headman sighs and looks at Slade.  “How annoying, would you mind? It is Justin’s father.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Slade grins while be walks over and opens the door walking outside.

The Headman stands and says. “Come on you won’t want to miss this.”

As we wake outside we see Justin, Frank, and their fathers all dress in full armor with their weapons already drawn.  Justin’s father is addressing Slade. “Who are you?  I want to talk to the Headman.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“It doesn’t look like you are here to talk.” Slade remarks mildly.

“What I am here for in none of your business.” Justin’s father says as he sees me and the Headman step out.  He is opening his mouth to say something as Slade’s body emits a flash of light and there is a deep boom, which shakes snow from the roof.  Justin’s father’s body disappears in a cloud of blood as he dies.  This is repeated three more times in rapid succession.

“Hardly worth the effort.”  Slade says as he picks up the dropped equipment and money putting it in his inventory. 

“How many levels did Justin’s father lose.” the Headman asked.

 Slade seemed to glance at something only he could see and said. “He lost six levels.”

 “What? How?” I asked.

 Slade just grinned as the Headman said, “It is a special skill he has that can be used once against any opponent.”

 “Yes, but the amount of loss is higher the lower the level of my opponent is which is why I only used it on Justin’s father.”

 “Well shall we continue our conversation inside?”

We all sit down back in the main room.  I am glad to sit as I try not to think about how powerful Slade is.

“Well as I was about to say.  I am looking for an apprentice and my nephew thought you would be a good candidate.  I agree with his assessment.  So, how about it?”

“This is a formal apprenticeship?”

“Yes, it is. I also look forward to seeing how far we can take your ability.”  Wow, I think.  A formal apprenticeship continues until he releases me and I will have to do everything he says for a minimum of five years, but his is obviously powerful and skilled.

“When would we start?”

“As soon as you agree we will go.  My nephew will explain to your parents and the rest of the village.”

I am torn, to suddenly leave like this.  I still haven’t decided about Sara, but this is to good of an opportunity to pass up.  “I agree.”

“This is great I can’t wait to see what we can do with Jump.” Slade says.

 I frown as I can’t help asking. “Why is Jump so important?”

 The Headman and Slade look at each other grinning.  The Headman says, “Why don’t you answer that, since I know you have done a lot of research on the fundamental skills.”

 “Ok, think about this, during your life you have done a lot of running and even jumping right?”

 “Sure.”

 “Have you ever gained a skill for that prior to the quest reward?”

 “No, but I wasn’t really trying.”

 “Well you could try all you want, but you won’t get it unless it is a reward from a quest.”

 “Why is that, that doesn’t seem right, they should be easier to get than a Basic skill right?  You even said they are fundamental skills.”

 “The System prevents anyone from getting a Fundamental skill because many other skills build on them.  So, making it easy to get a fundamental skill would greatly change the build everyone works toward.”

 Seeing my puzzled look, he asks. “Do you know what a build is?”

 “No, I have never heard that term before.”

 “A build is a collection of skills and attribute allocations combined with a selected class that maximizes a characters desired role.  For example, a Warrior class could have two builds one for defense and one for damage.  The defense build would use skills that stun creatures, increase constitution, and prevent creatures from attacking other members of the party.  A damage build would focus on speed and strength, with some constitution, but maximizing attack damage.”

 “I see, so the earlier you decide what your role will be in life the better, so you can focus on getting the right skills and attributes.”

 “Exactly, which is why Jump is a great combination with Wall Walker.  You can climb ceiling and drop on your opponent and Jump will prevent you from take damage.  You can Jump from one wall to another to switch who you are attacking.  When you level it up you can even jump from the floor and flip in midair to land on the ceiling.  Using it right will make you incredibly mobile and flexible.”

 “Wow, I can’t wait.”

 “Great.” Slade says standing and extending his hand.  I grasp his hand and the room around us seems to smear in a swirl of colors as he says. “Later nephew.” And we are teleported.