"Tuck your elbow in!" Nargen urged Markus as he punished the offending portion of his limb with a harsh smack from the reed he was using while sparring with Markus; though Markus would say that the Grand Paladin was torturing him for his own amusement.

Hefting his heavy tower shield, Markus tucked both his elbows in and barely set his feet in time to receive the older man's heavy kick that nearly knocked him over.

"Good," Nargen grinned as Markus kept his feet and even went on the offensive, thrusting his sword toward his chest and pushing him back. "Good, keep that up and remember the first rule of the frontline."

"Keep your shield up," Markus said, raising the heavy slab of metal-bound wood into place just before the Grand Paladin's armored fist crashed into it.

As he bore the brunt of the man's attack, Markus pushed back and managed to knock Nargen off-balance enough to step back and swing his shield in a sweep that bashed into the man hard enough to drive him to the ground.

"Excellent," Nargen said as he fell to the ground and rolled backward before springing to his feet and resetting his stance. "Now it's my turn."

Before Markus could pull his shield back into position, Nargen had flashed forward, his reed whipping at his head and his fist clenched behind him, ready to crash forward when Markus dodged the reed. Seeing what Nargen had prepared for him, Markus brought his sword around and blocked the reed, slicing through the thin, springy body and bisecting it. As the upper portion of the reed flew away, Nargen brought his fist forward and in an acrobatic display that Markus hadn't expected, used his fist as a counter-weight as he brought his foot up in a round-house kick that crashed into Markus' helmet and knocked him to the ground, head spinning.

"You alright?" Nargen asked him as Markus groaned pitifully on the ground. "Sounds like you'll be fine."

"Again," Markus said, pushing his bruised body up and resetting his stance.

"No," Nargen said bluntly. "You've been at this for nearly an hour, you need rest and water. Perhaps some healing."

"Fine," Markus said, lowering his sword and shield as the older man walked away. "Thanks for trying to teach me."

"If I had pages and squires that threw themselves as wholeheartedly into their training as you did, the Order of the Long Sleep would be the greatest Paladin Order in Astrana," Nargen said as he shucked his armored gloves and accepted water from the waiting Human at the side of the yard.

"You've done very well," Nargen continued after he'd taken a drink. "You don't plant your feet the way most new recruits do when we give them a shield. They have to learn the hard way that shields require just as much mobility and speed to make use of them. What good is a wall on your arm if you don't move it into position fast enough."

"Thank you," Markus said as he carefully set his shield against the low wall and accepted water from Rankins.

"When I talk with General Taggert about this, he'll no doubt agree with me," Nargen nodded. "Of course, just because you're naturally gifted with moving your shield, doesn't mean that you're without flaws. Your swordsmanship is abysmal, and your general awareness of your surroundings is just as bad. You didn't realize that Rankins was throwing cloth balls in your direction, did you?"

"No," Markus said sheepishly as he looked at the sandy sparring yard and noticed the bright green balls on the ground. "I didn't notice."

"Don't worry," Nargen told him with a clap on the shoulder. "There's a reason that we train. If we gave children swords and spears and sent them to fight monsters, they'd all lose their lives in no time. I'll have a training regimen made up for you and Rankins will put you through the whole thing."

"Would that affect the training that the Royal Guard owes me?" Markus asked worriedly.

"The Royal Guard owes you training?" Nargen asked. "Perfect! I'll send for Instructors Janks and Rook. They'll want to spar with you a time or two, but then they'll help me with that regimen. It'll be good for Rankins too, since they'll need to know what he's capable of and that'll mean he'll have a chance to learn from them as well."

"Oh, thanks," Markus said, his worry growing at the idea of the Grand Paladin's idea of a training regimen.

"With their help, I'll be able to set you up until you've gotten to the Common rank in Slash, Thrust, Block, Shield Strike, Parry, and Crush," Nargen said excitedly. "You'll be able to spend quite a bit of time training too, since you'll have plenty of opportunities to test yourself against the lesser undeads."

"That sounds great," Markus said, his worry falling away at the idea of reaching the Common rank in so many skills. As he waited for the attending priest's healing spells to take hold, he called up his status and examined the practically unchanged screen.

Markus, Marquis of the Gray Pantheon

Human (Varken Barbarian)

HP: 100% SP: 100% FP: 100%

Fighter

Inventory:

Undead Protecting Half-plate Armor set(equipped)

Undead Repelling Tower Shield(equipped)

Undead Slaying Bastard Sword(equipped)

Skinning Knife

Currency:

85B; 41I; 15C

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Perks:

Gather Heat: Your bloodline allows you to gather heat within your body; increases effectiveness of Fire Magic

Learned: Learn mastery of skills faster

Skills:

Examine: Study a target and determine race, name, or danger level

Riding(Common): You can ride mounted creatures. You can keep your seating over rough terrain and high speeds. Ability increases with skill

Shield Strike(Lesser; Combat): Strike an opponent with your shield. Chance to stun your opponent

Slash(Lesser; Combat): Slash an opponent with your sword. Chance to dismember your opponent if aimed well.

Block(Lesser; Combat): Interpose your shield between yourself and your opponent.

Arts:

Art of Slashing Blades: Strike out with your blade and wound your enemy.

Art of Steady Shield: Interpose your shield between yourself and your opponent and prevent all damage from their strike. Strike out with your shield and stun your opponent.

Other than a few skills, he'd managed to learn from the fight with the Orcs in the Merkona Swamp and the Arts that were learned then as well, he hadn't learned anything else. His Currency tab of his Inventory didn't reflect the fact that he had control of multiple Platinum pieces and the Gold and Silver that could make them up.

"Something wrong?" Nargen asked as he saw Markus frowning.

"Nothing that can be helped immediately," Markus said with a sigh, dismissing the screen and making a mental note to alter his screen the way Pear said he could.

"Well, if you're certain," Nargen said, kindly patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, stand up. We're about to have company. Chess, sent his assistant, see."

"Guess that means that the meeting they were all in is on a break, or done," Markus said, pulling himself to stand straight and sheathing his sword at his waist.

"Hopefully they didn't all spend the whole time arguing," Nargen said. "That's why I leave Chess to take care of the Church's day-to-day, too much arguing and politics for my taste."

"You can't get away from that stuff no matter what you do," Markus pointed out as the Halfling led three other people out into the training yard.

"Sir Markus," Chess greeted him. "Sir Nargen, have you met Alchemist Jerrinks, Lady Cogins of the Mage's College, and Artisan Whisperneedle?"

"Lady," Nargen greeted the Human woman with a polite bow before turning to the two men. "Alchemist, Artisan."

"A pleasure," the dark-haired woman greeted them both as Markus offered his own polite bow to the three of them.

"Whisperneedle told us about your efforts to recruit him and others last night," the bespectacled Orcish man said.

"I'm sure he offered a very different perspective than what I saw," Markus said politely as the Gnome tailor grinned at him, blue-green eyes sparkling. "All I remember was hoping that I wouldn't make them all angry enough that they'd hold me down and make me regret trying to recruit them for my idea."

"Oh, some of us were very close," Whisperneedle said, his grin seeming to stretch wider as he spoke. "But, you made certain that we all knew there were plans to pay us for our efforts and that we weren't expected to move our entire operations to the middle of nowhere."

"Probably the only thing that saved you," Lady Cogins said as she examined Markus critically. "Most artisans would have torn you apart at the idea that they were expected to move from where they'd established themselves. A careful line you walked."

"Hopefully it's one that I managed to balance on," Markus agreed. "Can I talk with you Chess? I have a few questions."

"Of course," Chesterfield said amicably before turning to the other three. "Perhaps you'd all like to question Sir Nargen about his plans to defend the fort upon its completion?"

"An excellent idea," Jerrinks said as he adjusted his glasses carefully. "I do have many questions about the expected time it will take for my alchemical laboratory to be constructed, and questioning Sir Nargen will offer a unique perspective of the timeline."

As the three surrounded Nargen and began to talk with him, Chess and Markus stepped out of earshot and began to quietly speak.

"Everything's going alright?" Markus immediately asked, shooting a worried glance at the three representatives from the other organizations.

"Well enough," Chess told him. "There is, of course, the small issues that they all bring up. How long things will take, when the construction will begin, where everything will take place, and so many more. Each of them together compounds and one answer sparks ten questions, but we've managed to work out the details of how things will go. Payments, resource distribution, workshop constructions, it's all rather tedious, but with all of that out of the way, we've been able to work out the expected numbers of personnel from each of them."

"That's good," Markus said. "Once we get the construction started, I'll really start working on recruiting Last Stars."

"Excellent," Chess said, relief tinging his voice. "I've had an idea for that, a way to showcase the cooperation between the artisans, College, and Church; so that we can demonstrate our seriousness about this project. Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course," Markus nodded. "It's probably better than my own idea of standing on the street corner with Rankins."

"Yes, it certainly is better than that," Chess agreed with a grin. "I was considering having the artisans construct several glass screens to be enchanted by the College, so that with a bit of Illusionary magic, you could be seen and heard across the entire city. We could even use it as a demonstration of the idea before gifting it to the Palace. The king often speaks to the citizens at harvest time and the solstices, to encourage and thank them all for their efforts thus far. With these screens, he could speak to them without having them all crammed into the center market."

"Sounds like a great idea," Markus said with a grin. "Back home, where the Last Stars are from, we have something similar to that. They're so common now, that pretty much every home has at least one in them."

"Really?" Chess asked excitedly. "How do they work? What are they for?"

"I don't know all the specifics," Markus admitted. "But they're mostly used for entertainment now. We have actors make plays of all sorts for us and then we watch them in the comfort of our homes whenever we want. The plays are recorded and we buy them. A lot of people use them for learning things like the weather and what's happening in the wider world too."

"Fascinating," Chess said with a grin. "Absolutely fascinating."

"It's probably going to be something that's going to take a while for the rest of Astrana to start using," Markus cautioned him. "Even as early as five years ago, we had places in our world that didn't have any sort of access to technology like I've grown up with. They're still learning to use it, and I've had it for so long that it's just a fact of my life."

"Until we get to that point, the very fact that such a thing is possible is something that is genuinely amazing to me," Chess told him. "Grindel is of the Gray Pantheon and amongst their numbers is Cargim, Lord of Innovation. He would be quite happy with my idea and our future efforts to create it."

"Cargim? What else is he the god of?" Markus asked.

"Innovation, of course," Chess said, "but also Fire, the source of steel and worked metal, as well as Cities in general. He is credited with the construction of the first city, Anglana. Sadly, it has been lost to history and warfare."

"I know someone who'd love to maybe find it," Markus said, his thoughts turning to Jim and his desire to explore the world. "Maybe he will."

"Maybe indeed," Chess said with a grin. "Now, what do you say we go and save Godfrey, eh? I'm sure they're already driving him mad with their questions."