All three heard his response but seemed more interested in learning more about his past than his attempted empathy and Garnedell quickly questioned him on his family, “Your family? Are you banished from your family?”

“Banished? No. I just will never see them again.”

“Why? Do you not wish to see them?” Kilniara asked as she looked to him.

“I would love to see him again,” Joe replied.

“Then why,” Kilniara continued although she trailed off.

Joe took a deep breath, replying carefully, “I’m… I can never see them again. They are too far … I am too far from home.”

“Why?” Zilnek asked after a bit of time.

The realization of being so far from home and the realization of never returning hit him like a ton of bricks and his heart dropped even as he felt tears beginning to well up in the corner of his eyes. He quickly dropped his head back and took another deep breath, trying to calm the unsettled emotions. Kilniara’s quick squeeze and press against his side helped calm him as she tried to snuggle deeper into his side. Joe responded by wrapping an arm around her, squeezing her tightly in thanks which calmed him even more as she seemed to enjoy his embrace and wiggled into it in return. Despite her help, it took him a moment to catch that Zilnek had spoken and he had to try to dig into his memory to remember what he’d asked. It took him a bit as he struggled to try to explain what a spaceship was before finally deciding to simply go with magic. What’s that famous saying? Any sufficiently advanced technology…

Joe sighed once more, “I was … stolen from my home by people using a great magical… artifact. This artifact allowed me to travel incredibly vast distances… beyond what our minds can comprehend. But I do not know the magic or where to find the artifact that could allow me to return, so I will never be able to return to see my family.”

The other three fell silent at this, looking back and forth between each other before Kilniara questioned, “Could you not pay to use the artifact once again to return? You have… incredible wealth yourself.”

Joe smiled at that and glanced down at Kilniara, “I do not know where the people are or where the artifact is. Even if I did, I do not think I could get to the artifact… ah… hmm,” Joe trailed off as he considered his stats and what superhuman strength and magic might mean in regards to a space race. Shoot! I might even be able to jump into orbit! Heh… now just gotta figure out how to carry a rudimentary spaceship and space suit with me! Hah!

All three had seen him drift off and decided to allow him his space, falling silent for several moments before Zilnek and Garnedell couldn’t stand it any longer and began to chatter with one another, Kilniara joining in but remaining and Joe’s side while still trying to comfort him with her presence. All three talked excitedly with each other and for a bit until Joe had calmed himself enough and he soon joined in the conversation as well for several minutes before calling an end to their lunch break by standing up and pulling Kilniara up with him.

“Right. Time to kill some more goblins and get Zilnek his next level, OK?”

Zilnek jumped up excitedly with Joe’s proclamation while the other two stood with just as much excitement if less energy.

“Let’s go head and fight in pairs again. I’ll start with Zilnek, and we’ll fight until Zilnek hits his next level, then we’ll head out for a rest for this afternoon, OK?”

All three seemed to brighten at that, and they were soon out from their corner, carefully attracting goblins that would suit their needs. They’d only fought for about an hour, swapping partners only once, when Joe heard Zilnek cry out excitedly off to his left. His quick glance showed that both of them had killed their goblin and seemed to be celebrating but he couldn’t let that distract him and he turned back to keep a cautious eye on Kilniara until after she finished off her goblin. It only took another few moments for her to take out the goblin and then all four headed back to the corner before the three settled back down against the wall. Man, they really need to work on their endurance a bit, but…

Joe let them have their rest for a few moments, as everyone congratulated Zilnek on his latest level but he didn’t let them stay seated long.

“OK. Nice job, but you still haven’t done any of your staff forms and exercises! So. Up and at ‘em!”

All three groaned, complaints flying a bit fast and Joe narrowed his eyes, “We’re friends, but I’m also still your master!”

That shut all three up and Joe smirked before laughing a bit, “That didn’t bother me, guys. You can complain if you need, but that doesn’t mean you get out of doing it. Complain all you want, as long as you do it!”

The other three smiled at that, returning his smile and Garnedell took it as license to begin whining again, “Oh man! Always working so hard while our master just plays. Whipping and beating us. Making our lives miserable. Treating us as nothing more than even slaves! Oh how miserable we are in what we…”

“You know… I really really hate whining. Just thought I would let you know that,” Joe offered pointedly with a chagrined smirk at Garnedell. Garnedell returned Joe’s snark with a silent smirk of his own and the two’s face shifted to one of laughing closeness.

“But, really, I do hate whining,” Joe said with a bit more seriousness before continuing, “However… However! I understand. These exercises suck and are exhausting. They are the key to being strong and long lived fighters, though, so please trust me do them carefully, OK?”

All three sobered at Joe’s statement but quickly found their humor again when he admitted the horrors of the training, quickly diving diligently, if not excitedly, into their forms. Joe nodded with satisfaction before taking a moment to correct some of each of their forms, going to each of them to offer some guidance. After a few moments with each of them, Joe headed out to fight some of the goblins.

“Do another three iterations of your forms and I’ll go out and take out some more goblins. When you’re done, we’ll head out, OK?”

All three called out excitedly in agreement and seemed to energize and Joe left them to their training while he took out some more goblins. He spent close to an hour out there, coming back only a few times to offer some more advice before they were finally done appropriately completing their staff forms. At first, he was feeling a bit hopeful of possibly getting his Philosopher job another level, but found the growth to be miserable as he’d already hit level thirty. He wasn’t too concerned as his Available Jobs had revealed that Theologian was now an option for him, but the lack of growth teased his thoughts and he found his curiosity pushing him to figure out what was going on. Got some time anyway, gotta rest before the next fight. And… Joe flipped open his log and felt his eyebrows climb as he looked at what the last goblin had given him for exp. Almost thirty grand exp… I should be flying through these levels, right? Five times increase every five levels… that makes… ok… never mind… a million and a half just for one level… that’s… fifty kills. Not bad, I guess… but I’m still only able to do about a hundred per day… Which… well, I guess makes sense. My stats are still static and the same as what I got from earth, so… Won’t probably see an increase in combat ability or kill speed after I finalize and get my enhanced local stats? I guess? Joe sighed at the weirdness and let it go as he turned to his next goblin, clearing his mind and ready for the next fight.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

When they were done, Joe fought another couple goblins while they rested before returning to them and packing everything up and leading everyone out of the dungeon. He headed back to the inn then paused, glancing down at his thighs and remembered the pain as a shadow memory then flashed on the memory of Kilniara disemboweled. OK… yeah… this isn’t basic martial arts on Earth… so… gotta reframe my thinking. He grimaced and turned to the others.

“You know. We should probably get some armor.”

Garnedell’s eyes widened eagerly while Zilnek and Kilniara frowned, embarrassment turning their faces down and away. Huh… what’s…

Garnedell quickly understood, noticing their embarrassment and turned to Joe, “They do not have an armor skill, Joe, not as cloth armorers. They can only size and check. Only combatants have armor skills.”

“Ah… and adventurers have an armor skill?”

Garnedell smiled, “Yes, I can use a light cloth chest plate.”

“Chest plate only?”

Garnedell frowned at that, “Maybe?”

Joe frowned, “Can I see your status, Garnedell?”

Garnedell eagerly opened up his status, and followed Joe’s prompts to the available skills page. It proved remarkably barren in comparison to his and Joe’s frown grew. Need to really get them to swap to commoner and open up jobs… but they’re so reluctant, so… He slid his eyes across the various the two skills and found no armor skill. Joe stifled his sigh.

“Sorry, Garnedell. Not yet. Do you know when you get that skill?”

Garnedell smiled sadly, nodding, “It would be amazing if I got the skill so young, but my father received his around thirty years age… I think… somewhere between thirty and thirty five.”

Huh… so… if I remember right… level twenty at twenty… uh… two per year until twenty five… so… twenty two… then.. uh… twenty four at thirty.. about… so… then thirty to thirty five years old… that would make it a level twenty five skill, right? Sounds about right… Joe glanced down at Garnedell’s mid teens level and frowned. Going to be a LONG time… he needs to… Joe stifled a sigh.

“Sorry Garnedell, you don’t have the skill yet. You should…”

Garnedell quickly shook his head again, “No, Joe. I truly … please…”

Joe frowned sadly then nodded, “Alright. Then… yeah… Then I guess it’s just for me, then.”

Joe turned away and the other three followed after, all a bit more subdued and Joe tried to cheer them up, promising them to help grow and open up newer and better jobs. Joe then paused and realized he was leading to a place he didn’t know where he was going and turned to Garnedell.

“Oh, sorry. Do you know where the armorers are?”

Garnedell grinned and nodded, turning the opposite direction of their travel and Joe laughed in chagrin, “And you kept letting me walk the wrong way like a fool?”

Garnedell glanced backwards and smirked, “You didn’t ask.”

Joe smiled and followed after, all four quickly chatting with one another again and enjoying each other’s company well enough. When Joe made it to the armorer’s lane, Joe paused and considered his options. Armor really wasn’t something that he was used to at all, so stared up and down the lane at everything. There was a massive long list of options, and he saw such a variety he almost got lost in making a choice. Leather and metal seemed to predominate, although there were a nice variety of cloth armors as well. The truly strange was what appeared to be an entire industry of wooden armors. Looks… like wood… but shouldn’t that just… split… shatter? He glanced around and saw a small set of shops slightly off to the side selling an off white armor that seemed interesting, but then he noticed the building materials the armorer was using and he blanched slightly, noticing bones scattered across his crafting table. OK… full on weird magic stuff then… cause… bones? Really? He stared at it then looked back around and focused on the leather armorers. Much more normal… dead ani… ok… maybe not so odd then… dead animal skin… normal… bones… no… Heh… Right… need to shift my thoughts.

There were even a significant variety amongst the leather workers, with an obvious split between a more natural, or as Joe considered, normal leather and a set of armorers that seemed to be working with reptilian skin that still had scales attached. Joe wondered how that would add to the armor, but decided that right now, asking obvious questions would probably not be the best idea. Making a decision, he headed towards the nearest leather worker and simple decided that, given the system seemed to be restrictive towards armor as well as weapons, he might want to test a piece first.

“Hello, armorer. I seek a chest piece, if you would.”

The man looked up and grunted before he nodded and came forward, “Hardened, soft, studded, plates or no plates, with or without gambeson, full torso, chest only, back, no back?”

Joe paused at the myriad of options and decided to with his gut, “Hardened, gambeson, for torso and back but still with full movement. Sacrifice coverage if you need, but can’t move or get in the way.”

The armorer paused at that and looked at Joe with a bit more consideration, “How far down.

Joe nodded, “Stop at just above the hips. Don’t let it bind on my hips at all.”

“Arms?”

“Same… maybe something like a tank top?”

Mana gathered then erupted outward and the armorer smirked when the knowledge settled upon him, “Tank top… such… why… that makes no sense.”

Joe shrugged, “You know what? I agree… it doesn’t make any sense. But, hey, language is insane.”

The armorer guffawed at that then nodded before walking forward and staring at Joe carefully. He raised his hands and pressed it to Joe’s body, pressing against his chest, stomach, then back, both upper and lower. He then stepped back and hummed a bit before putting hands on his shoulders and feeling them. Lastly, he dropped it to Joe’s waist and circled it quickly before he stepped back with a nod. “Got it. Hmm… probably need about a week… uh… nah… twelve… thirteen days. Come back in thirteen days.”

Joe blinked in surprise, then shrugged and replied with a bit of shock, “Alright… thirteen days.”

The armor gruffly nodded and turned away, returning to his work and Joe found himself a bit nonplussed. He stared after the man then shrugged once again in surprise and turned back to the other three.

“Guess that’s it. Let’s head back to the inn.”

The other three smiled and nodded, Garnedell quickly returning to his duty as guide and leading them back to their inn. They all took a bath, Joe going first before slipping out of the inn by himself to get a snack. He returned quickly and had them all come to the common room where he had a snack for the afternoon set out for them after they’d taken the time to bathe themselves.

Joe had explored the city for some dessert like snacks as he hadn’t had anything like it in a while and was a bit peckish for something. Of course, they don’t have ice cream! But he was able to find some kind of cake thing and brought it back before the other three had come down.

Garnedell and Zilnek came down first but Joe had already taken his own slice by then and munched on it carefully, savoring the meal. The two came upon Joe eating the cake and seemed a bit uncertain how to react until Joe waved the cake towards them.

“Enjoy, but save a piece for Kilniara, of course.”

The two quickly dove in and took two large pieces for themselves, no conversation starting as all three were too busy enjoying the cake. Several minutes later, Kilniara came down to join them, and indignantly rushed to her seat when she saw the other three eating cake, squawking in anger before pulling in her plate to enjoy and once again dropping their table into silence.

The four enjoyed their dessert in silence for a few moments, although Joe was still the last to finish as the other three seemed to burn through their sweets pretty quickly. When he saw the other three finished, he smirked as he began to exaggeratedly and even more slowly eat his snack and the other three began to angrily berate him.

He laughed at their faux anger and quickly polished of the rest before turning to them, “Right. I want to spend a bit of time with each of you. Make sure you are all doing alright and ask for any feedback for what you want. Is that OK for you guys?”

The other three looked at each other in a bit of confusion before agreeing cautiously and Joe nodded, “Good. Then let me talk with Garnedell first, then I’ll chat with Zilnek and then Kilniara last. After our talk, you can take off and do what you want, but please wait here at the inn until I’m done talking with you, OK? It should only take maybe fifteen or twenty… maybe thirty minutes per person.”

The other three nodded and Joe then stood before dragging Garnedell after him out the door, the two walking towards the temple square as Joe had to change his job anyway, and figure he could do both and stop for some kind of private something or other on the way back. Garnedell trotted alongside him happily without saying much and Joe realized he would likely have to start the whole thing off personally.

“So. Everything OK? Anything you need to say or want to tell me?”

Garnedell looked up at Joe, thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, “I have no complaints.”

“Then do you have any praises?” Joe asked with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh… uh… You are teaching well?” Garnedell offered uncertainly.

“You know. This isn’t going well if you don’t talk. This is the time to speak to me of any desires or hopes you have and reveal to me anything that might help me continue to help you. You do not have to reveal any secrets you do not wish to, but any and all information I have will only help me know you better and create a training regime best suited for you.”

Garnedell seemed to think carefully at this before shaking his head, “Truly. I have little to say. I am happy, healthy, well fed, and even enjoy some free time. I have no complaints.”

“Then any goals.”

“I only desire to be an adventurer like my parents.”

“And how goes it?”

“Well, I gained a level!”

“Oh! Awesome? This morning?”

Garnedell shook his head, “No. Maybe four or five days ago.”

Joe stopped at that, thinking carefully as he looked down at Garnedell, “Why didn’t you tell us… me that you had gained a level?”