(Gavin)

It isn't until we're back at the house that I realize that Zack and the creepy guy weren't serious with their argument. They were just giving each other a hard time, and the creepy guy was going to give me the stuff anyway, even though it's not normal.

According to Zack, we can acquire an unlimited amount of 'training equipment' from the Trading Post, but only one at a time. The creepy guy apparently has some way to know if we genuinely lost it if we approach without the old.

The tradeoff is that training equipment is weak and doesn't last long, especially against Stone Slimes. According to Max, Stone Slimes are 'spike-happy', so I think it is safe to assume that they throw spikes, probably ones made of stone.

I don't understand why Zack doesn't just buy us some basic equipment so that it lasts longer. If he's buying the property we're living on, then why can't he supply his team until we can supply ourselves?

There's no way he didn't buy the staff that Luca's holding, I really doubt the healer, who's only been here a month or two from what I was able to get out of them, has been able to afford that. It looks to be of the same quality as the others I've seen on Adventurers as we walked through town.

Not like Max's, which looks cheap and isn't completely smooth or anything. He's bopped Luca on the head with a few times.

I really do not like Zack.

"Alright," Zack looks at me. "We delayed it until now, but I run Max and Luca through some exercises in the mornings, a training program to help them augment their skills. Either you can try training on your own, or you can follow the program."

"How does this 'program' work?" I ask.

"You do various exercises I tell you to," he says. "And practice the combat moves I show you and tell you to. Sometimes, you spar."

"Spar?"

"Fight against someone," he says. "Luca and Max can't use swords, so you'll spar against me for that. You only need Sword Mastery to be able to take on Squire?"

"What about Paladin?" I ask. "You said Holy Squire?"

"Yes," he nods. "Holy Squire requires Sword Mastery, Heal, and Light Orb."

Heal sounds like a basic healing spell. Is Light Orb exactly what it sounds like?

"Light Orb?" I ask.

"Yes," he nods. "It's an orb of light generated above the palm of your hand. Dark Knights have something similar, though instead of being golden, it's crimson, and ours is more than just a way to see in the dark, it's-Luca! Seriously?"

I look at Luca, who's blushing as an orb of pure-white light hovers between his hands. Zack lets out a sigh, shaking his head.

"You just had to try, didn't you?" Zack asks, and Luca gives him a shy smile. "Well, congratulations, bud. You're now at two of the three you need for Holy Squire, but why don't you wait on Sword Mastery for a bit? You're a bit too timid for combat."

Luca gives him a serious nod, and Zack shakes his head in amusement as he looks at me.

"Don't take Luca as a standard for learning holy or light magics," he tells me. "Luca possesses an insane affinity for them, and I do mean insane affinity for them. Now, let's get working. Luca, Max, you know the drills. Gavin, we're going to see what your limits are."

Zack has me do a series of pushups, situps, planks, and sprints to see what I can do. I'm not too happy with him bossing me around, but do them anyway. He has the experience, and Lord Light of Air did tell me while I was in his sacred chamber that the party leader I was being sent to knew his stuff and would do his best to help me survive.

I don't trust Zack, but I do trust Lord Light of Air.

----------------------------------------

(Luca)

I'm disappointed. It really is just a ball of light. It's the size of a cantaloupe, and the only reason I know what that is comes from Mr. Zack showing up with one yesterday, plopping it down, cutting it open, and feeding it to us.

Deliciousness.

Sighing, I read the description of my new Skill again as Mr. Zack continues drilling Gavin in sword combat.

New Skill! Light Orb Active/Passive Generates an orb of light to illuminate your surroundings. Cost: 20 Mana/second (reduces by 1 Mana/second per Level of this Skill)

I suppose that this Skill is part of the reason why it's recommended waiting until at least the second Class to take on Holy Squire. This Skill alone is costly, and I'm sure others are as well. According to Sir Travis, I would need the Blessing of [Stat] Skill, along with other Blessings, to advance Paladin. In addition to being an offensive Class, it deals with a lot of buffs for teammates, unlike Priests, who just heal and cure.

So taking on something that requires a lot less Mana for its Skills before taking on something that requires a lot makes sense. I think he said something about a solid foundation for combat before worrying about extra stuff during combat.

Max seems to like the Light Orbs I summon. That, or he doesn't like them. But he's attacking them with a grin on his face, his tail wagging, so I think he likes them and is just playing. It didn't take me long to figure out how to move the orb around, though Mr. Zack's amused look told me that moving the Light Orbs probably isn't a normal thing.

I can only sustain the orbs for around fifty seconds, which kind of makes me curious what it's normally used for. Maybe a Paladin generally has a much higher amount of Mana than me? And the time does get higher as the Skill Level goes up.

It takes me almost an hour of playing with Max, alternating with the exercises Mr. Zack has us do and sparring, for me to realize that I'm actually getting more time out of it. Duh. I regenerate Mana, too.

So a higher Level Light Orb and a decent Mana Pool actually increases that greatly. I wonder how long Mr. Zack could sustain it for.

"Four minutes and forty-five seconds," he tells me. "Before factoring in regeneration. Someone like Travis regenerates more each second than it costs, so they'd be able to sustain it until exhausted or something."

Cool. Mr. Zack is awesome.

"Thanks," he ruffles my hair. "Starting out, it's pretty useless, as you noticed. It's like many Skills – you need a higher Level of the Skill, and sometimes better stuff, to make real use of it. A Holy Squire might use it to see for a few moments while grabbing something out of a bag while a Holy Knight might use it to send signals to allies in the distance, but a Champion of Light or a Holy One might use it to light the path as they walk with their party through the night or in a cave."

That is cool.

"Boooss!" Max does a whine-whimper thing as he clutches his stomach and looks pitiful. "Max huuuungryyyy!"

"Alright," Mr. Zack chuckles, patting Max on the head. "You three get some rest, I'll make lunch."

Mr. Zack heads into the kitchen to start cooking, and an exhausted, sweaty Gavin walks over and sits on the bench.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Is he always like that?"

"Boss awesome!" Max nod.

"Is training all he has us do?"

"No!" Max shakes his head. "Boss kill fields!"

"Huh?" Gavin gives Max a bewildered look.

"I take them out so Max can kill stuff in the fields," Mr. Zack calls from the kitchen. "You'll be joining us if you want some practical experience. Instead of the slimes, though, you'll be against some rats."

Mr. Zack must have left some of those when he snuck out last night. Why did Gavin tense up a bit when Mr. Zack said that?

"R-rats?" Gavin asks.

"Yes," Mr. Zack responds, looking at us. "Slimes will degrade the edge of your blade faster, and it's better for magicians like Max to fight them. A rat is better for a beginner warrior like you. Once the full team is assembled and each of you are competent, we'll start working on goblins."

Mr. Zack gives me a look that tells me he'll make sure I'm okay, and I nod back to him so he knows I understood.

He returns to cooking, and I pull out a deck of cards. Max hops onto the bench on the other side of the table, and I shuffle the deck, then deal them out.

"What's this?" Gavin asks.

"Go Fish," I answer, finishing dealing seven cards to each.

"Person to the left of the dealer goes first," Mr. Zack calls from the kitchen. Is he cooking a turkey in there? This is lunch! "They guess if someone has a specific card. If the person does, they hand the card to the guesser, who goes again. If they don't, the guesser draws a card from the center pile. If it's the card they guessed, they get to go again. If not, it's the turn of the person to their left. If you get a pair of cards, set them down in front of you. Whoever has the most pairs when the game ends wins. If you get three pairs in a row in the same turn, your turn ends. You can only call a card you have in your hand."

With three people, it's a lot harder to tie. Not impossible, but harder. With two people, it's possible for each to end up with thirteen pairs of cards. That's why I usually cheat and stack the deck when I shuffle. Max never notices, and since Mr. Zack doesn't play, he probably doesn't know, either.

Then again, Mr. Zack knows everything, so he probably knew I would stack the deck before I began to.

Maybe that's why he doesn't play with me?

"Luca, I have an identical deck," Mr. Zack's voice enters my head, causing me to jump. "And can read minds. I can just… swap out my cards to match the ones you have."

"Are you okay?" Gavin asks as I feel my face heat up.

I forgot Mr. Zack can project thoughts, it's part of how he communicates with the beastborn.

"Gavin!" Max says before I can muster up a response for Gavin. "Two!"

"Um," Gavin looks at his deck. "Yeah. I have a two."

He hands it to Max. I wasn't expecting that. I didn't stack the deck this time, just to play a three-way game without cheating. Mostly.

It looks like Max had a pair of nines, while I had a pair of fives and another of eights. Gavin had a pair of Queens.

I kind of knew all of that. Even though I didn't stack the deck, I did keep a mental count of which cards were where.

"Luca!" Max says. "Ten!"

"Fishy!" I respond.

"Nooo!" Max fake-wails as he draws a card.

"Um," Gavin looks at me. "King? Luca?"

"Fishy!"

"Huh?"

"That's how he tells you 'Go Fish'," Zack responds. "Pick up a card from the center."

Yeah, moron. You have a ten, and Max asked me if I had one. You should've asked him if he had a ten so you could claim it and another turn.

Gavin draws a card, and I look at Max.

"Six."

"Nooo!" Max fake-wails as he hands me his six.

He's just goofing, he's grinning and his tail's wagging.

"Ace!" I say to Max.

"Nooo!" He fake-wails again as he hands me his Ace.

Hrm. Neither of them have a nine. Let's see…

"Nine!" I look at Max.

"Goooo fishing!" He tells me, and I draw a card. Four. Gavin has a four. "Gavin! Ten!"

"Yeah," Gavin hands him the ten. "How did you know I had it?"

Max has a tendency to call failures over and over.

"Gavin!" Max ignores the question. "King!"

"Yeah," Gavin hands him the King.

Max's last remaining card is a three, which no one has, and then he'll draw an Ace.

"Gavin!" Max says. "Three!"

"I don't have that."

"Huh?" Max tilts his head to the side.

"Go fish!" Mr. Zack hollers from the kitchen.

"Okay, Boss!" Max happily takes a card from the deck.

Gavin looks between Max and me as he tries to decide who to ask. Don't ask me for a four, don't ask me for a four, don't-

"Queen?" He asks me.

"Fishy!"

He draws a card, and I grin at him.

"Four!"

He gives it to me, leaving me with the nine, which I ask Max for. Naturally, I end up having to draw again, so no one had it. Now, Max is going to ask me for the three, since he asked Gavin it last time, and then he's going to draw a three.

It plays out exactly as I expected. After that, he asks Gavin for an Ace, gets rejected, and draws. Gavin asks Max for a Queen has to draw, then I ask Max for a nine, drawing a Jack. Max is going to draw one on his turn. He asks me for an Ace and gets rejected, then Gavin asks Max for a ten and has to draw.

I think I understand Gavin's playstyle, now. He asks for the highest card he has from each player. He'll probably change if he knows someone else has a card, once he adjusts to the game.

"Jack," I ask Max.

"Nooo!" He fake-wails and gives me his Jack.

"King!" I ask him.

"Go fishing!"

I draw a King, then ask Max for a nine, drawing a four. Max asks Gavin for an Ace and draws a Jack, then Gavin asks me for a ten and draws a seven, putting it down with his other seven. He finally got a second pair.

Hehe. He's already ask for all the tens, and he 'knows' I don't have one, so he probably won't ask me for it again on his next turn, and after Max rejects my nine again, I draw a ten. Max asks Gavin for a Jack, then draws a two. Gavin asks me for an eight, which I reject, and since Max has moved on to the Jack, that means Gavin has a chance to show he's learned, since he drew an Ace.

"Ten," I look at Gavin, who gives me his ten. "Nine."

"Go fish," he tells me, and I draw a six.

Max asks him for a Jack, gets rejected, and draws a six, which I'll claim on my next turn. Gavin then asks Max for his Ace, receiving it. Gavin then asks Max for an eight and draws a four after getting rejected.

"Six!" I look at Max, who gives me another fake-wail as he hands it over. I look at Gavin. "Four!"

He hands me his four, then I ask him for a nine, since it's my only remaining card. Sadly, Gavin's drawing the next nine, which means I'll probably lose it. As a consolation prize, I might get to keep the three I just drew, if he asks Max for it first.

Max asks me for Jack, then draws a seven, then Gavin asks Max for a three. Yes!

Wait, that means he drew the nine, and it's my turn. Moron!

"Three," I ask Gavin, who gives it to me. "Nine."

Gavin also reluctantly hands me that one. I've already won, at twelve pairs. There's no way either of them can catch me.

"So Luca's out of cards," Gavin frowns. "Do Max and I just keep playing?"

"Luca draws five more," Mr. Zack tells him, still in the kitchen. "And if there aren't five left, then he draws all of the remaining cards."

Sadly, because that means that there's a good chance they'll both ask me for cards I have, since other than Max's Jack, I hold all of the cards they're needing pairs to.

Gavin looks between Max and me. He's already asked for both of his cards, the Queen and the eight, so he'll probably ask for the Queen again on his next turn and is trying to decide that now. He'll probably ask Max, though, if my gut's right. I think there's a pattern there, too.

"Queen?" He asks Max.

Uh, it's still my turn. He did do what I expected, though.

"Go fishing!" Max exclaims, then looks at me. "Luca! Two!"

"It's my turn, Max," I quietly say. "Two?"

"NOOOO!" Max actually wails. "Bad, Max! Bad, bad, bad!"

He gives me the two, and I look at Gavin. I can ensure he doesn't claim another card, as long as Max asks him for the Jack instead of me.

"Queen!" Gavin hands it to me. "Eight!"

Gavin hands it to me. Hehe. They let me take five turns instead of only three. Suckers! I expected that of Max, but was sure Gavin would've caught that I took three more turns after drawing the two.

Max looks between us, then asks me for the five, which I give him, then he asks for the seven, which I do the same for, before he asks Gavin for the Jack, then starts separating his pairs out so he can count them, now that all the cards are paired up.

"I have… three pairs," Gavin eyes my pile. "You win, Luca."

Of course I won. Because I'm awesome.

"Eight pairs!" Max proudly exclaims.

"Fifteen."

Gavin sighs as Max takes the deck and starts shuffling. I don't think Gavin wants to play another game of it after that crushing defeat. Maybe I should have gone easy on the new guy? But then how can he learn what it's like to be beaten by a priest?

Consider yourself lucky you didn't play against Mr. Zack. Not only can he read our minds to know what we have, but he can also use his psychic vision to see what will come and he's got that freaky speed that lets him change the cards in the deck and his hand at will. Before factoring in his special Inventory that lets him switch things without anyone noticing.

He's the real cheater. Even if I have no actual proof of it. He did say he cheats, though. Or at least, that he can. Is that proof? But no one else heard it. How often does he do that?

Max deals, and we start the next game. Gavin manages to score four pairs this time, while the gap between Max and me is a little lower. He had eight pairs again, but since Gavin had another, I only had fourteen.

"How do you do that?" Gavin asks me in astonishment as I reclaim my deck and start shuffling. "You're extremely good at guessing!"

It wasn't guessing at all. I shuffled slowly enough that I could keep track of where all of my cards where, and Max isn't a good shuffler, so it's easy with him. I've found that this helps train my Intellect and Perception, so I'm going to continue doing it.

I give Mr. Zack an uneasy glance. He's still cooking. Maybe I'll not do it with him. He's scary, and he would probably have some stern words for me if I did it with him.