(Zack)

Gavin's fallen asleep, Max is snoozing peacefully, and Luca has finally drifted off. It's been five days since Gavin arrived, and things have progressed well. Max reached Level 2 of Novice Elementalist, Luca's grumpy that he's yet to reach Level 2 of Novice, and Gavin's steadily gaining Experience. I think I'm starting to get a good estimate of how their Experience is.

My team's newest warrior seems to be overcoming his fear of rats, allowing him to fight a little bit better. He's earned some money by selling the tails of the rats, twelve whole copper, now. Max has earned… I think three silver. He's been killing a lot of the new type of slimes, mostly because they have a high spawn rate and are overtaking other things.

Luca seems a bit annoyed by the fact that he can't really earn money, since he's not a fighter. With his Mana, it wouldn't be an issue to teach him a basic attack spell, but he refuses to learn. I think he flashes back to Braden's death every time I bring the subject up, so I'm letting it go for now.

I told the others during dinner that our final member's arriving while they sleep tonight, which caused Gavin to question how I knew that. Max told him, though I don't think the warrior quite understood the magician.

Whatever.

Now that they're all asleep, I slip out of bed and make my way downstairs, grabbing a chair from one of the rooms and bringing it over to where I waited to greet Gavin. I set the chair down and sit on it, then wait.

Earlier, I pulled Luca aside and told him about our final team member's name. He was clearly unhappy about it, and I could tell the flashbacks were starting, but I managed to calm him down. Hopefully, I told him about it enough in advanced.

I'm about to doze off when I sense a shift in the air, and I open my eyes. A moment later, he appears. Much like Luca, Max, and me, he's rather small for his age. Much like Max, Gavin, and me, he's thirteen. Brown hair and green eyes, dressed in plain clothes, the standard outfit of those who accept the offer of the Crystals.

"Hello, Braden," I smile.

"How do you know my name?" He frowns, speaking quietly.

"I have a Skill called Appraisal," I inform him as his gaze wanders around, taking in everything. Observant. Gavin only noticed what was immediate, but I can tell that Braden is taking in far more. "It allows me to see the name, Level, Health, and Mana of anyone up to fifteen Levels above me and with the same or lower Level of Appraisal Resistance as my Appraisal."

"Okay," he says. "Lord Light of Air said my party leader would be greeting me."

"That's me," I say. "But I call him 'Big C' because 'Lord Light of Air' is a mouthful."

He frowns a little, but nods. At least he doesn't seem as offended as Gavin by that comment. It's only been five days, so I guess it should be considered normal for him to get upset at me still, if that's how he starts off.

"I'm Zack," I introduce himself, standing and approaching Braden, holding out my hand.

"Braden," he takes my hand.

He's got a firm grip, despite being quiet and having wandering eyes.

"Are you tired?" I ask.

"No."

"Figured," I say. "Most people are fully awake when they arrive. Since you just died, do you want to take a bath? I know some people feel icky when they first arrive because of that, even without memories of what happened."

He nods.

"Come on," I tell him, then lead him to the bath. "Here's our bath. Once you're finished, if you want to rest, everyone's upstairs, sleeping. We're in the furthest room from the stairs, though you can use any you want. If you aren't wanting to rest, you can do whatever, though please try not to wake the others. Max is grumpy and has a tendency to bite if he's woken during the night and Luca needs his sleep."

"Are they the other members?" He asks.

"And Gavin," I nod. "Luca's our healer, and has been here the second-longest of us. Max is our magician, and arrived after Luca. Gavin's the newest, before you, and arrived only five days ago. Max is the only Boundary-native."

"Okay."

"Good night," I dip my head to him, then leave the bath.

Almost immediately, I feel waves of fear and panic radiating out of Braden, and he softly calls my name out. That was definitely fear.

"Yes?" I return to the bath, and he starts calming down, though I can tell he's trembling and shaking.

"I-I'm sorry," he looks down. "I-I panicked."

"It's okay," I smile. "Not everyone likes being alone, and it is night. I'll bathe with you."

He nods, then I strip down and wash. Braden does the same, and I scrub his back. After I do, he scrubs mine, then we soak in the bath. He frowns a little at the floating dog toy.

"That belonged to a former resident here," I tell him. "His name is Gold. When he moved into the Dark Temple, he left that behind and got a new one."

"Was he a kid?"

"We're all kids."

"A little kid?"

"No," I answer. "Though he can seem a bit childish at times, just like Max. He's not as 'grown up' as some of us."

Even though he has every reason to be, after his abuse as a slave.

Braden nods, and we return to soaking. Another few minutes pass, and I sense Luca's mind down here. I watch as he enters the bath, then strips and cleans himself before joining us, sitting beside me and watching Braden with wary eyes. His breathing increases a little as he forces himself to stay calm.

"Did something wake you?" I ask, and immediately sense that it was being alone which woke up. "Sorry, Luca. I intended on going back up, but thought Braden could use some company. You know how it is when you first arrive – you're pretty awake. Gavin fell asleep pretty fast after a bath, so Braden might as well."

Luca nods without taking his gaze off of Braden.

"Which one is this?" Braden asks.

Does he always talk so softly?

"This is Luca," I put a hand on Luca's head. "Our healer. He might not look it, but he's good. Do you see these developing muscles?" I pinch Luca's arm as I hold it up, so that Braden can see the muscle. "He's not a fighter, but he's competent with martial arts. I'd pit him against a Fluffy Monavar any day."

Luca gives me a bewildered look.

"What's a Fluffy Monavar?" Braden asks, interested.

"It's a fluffy monster," I explain. "Around three feet tall. Due to its fluff, it's hard to actually damage it with blunt attacks. The fluff itself is resilient to magic as well, though fire magic is its bane – it doesn't just damage it, but counts as a 'vital strike' or 'critical hit', which means it does three times damage. Blades can cut through the fluff, but its hide is tough, so it'll take a sharp blade, a lot of Strength, or both, to get through.

"It's typically pink with some white in color," I continue. "And is absolutely covered in fluff. Its eyes are black, and it has a roughly bear-like build, though there's probably some ram in there, too. So a mix between a bear and a ram, I guess. It has a ram's curled horns for sure.

"Killing it isn't easy," I tell him as Luca sighs and rolls his eyes. "Because of that. A strong enough warrior could do it for sure, but a starter warrior? No chance, Lance. As I said, though, I'd pit Luca against a Fluffy Monavar any day."

"Where does it live?" He asks. "Are they around here?"

"No," I answer. "The Fluffy Monavar only dwells in mountainous areas. While we're surrounded by mountains, this place isn't mountainous in the requirements. It also likes some light woods and some cliffs. The best part about the Fluffy Monavar is after you kill it – its fluff is a rare resource that can fetch a lot of money before it's even spun into thread, and since it's a Special Monster, it has an automatic drop as well. Automatic drops are rare, usually, but they go straight into your Inventory if there's space. The drop is a barrel of cotton candy."

Luca snorts.

"Don't believe me," I look at Luca. "But I'd still pit you against one any day. Its horns are also a good alchemy reagent, by the way, but I'd avoid being rammed with them if you do fight one."

Braden nods while Luca continues to give me that disbelieving stare.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"How long have you been here?" Braden asks.

"It's hard to gauge accurately," I answer. "Five months? Six months? It's easy to lose track of time. Luca's only been here a month, month and a half. Time between events and the length of years are also not consistent."

"So you're strong?" He asks.

"Stronger than the rest of the team," I nod. "That's why I'm helping all of you with some training. I do still go for my own training from time to time."

Luca nods at that, turning his gaze back to Braden. I can sense his anxiety starting to alleviate. That's faster than I expected, and I'm happy for him. He's seeing the differences and acknowledging that this Braden isn't his brother.

"For example," I say. "After discussing things with Nik – he's the head of the Dark Knights, the type of Adventurer that I am – it's been decided that the five of us are splitting up in the morning for individual training with professionals. You'll go with a trainer of your Class, Gavin will work with some knights, Max will be helped with magic fire, I will train with Nik, and Luca… will be Luca."

Luca puffs out his chest in pride at that. He's actually not going to be far from me – Travis is taking him into the mines to work on his Holy Arrow spell. There are apparently some undead creatures down there other than Fallen Adventurers, but not many. Nik and I will be further down into the mines, so that I can face off against some tougher monsters.

Braden's going to go with Brandon, the rogue I met way back when I first arrived here. I already know Braden's going the hunter route, and Brandon agreed to train him. For Gavin, he'll be training with Peter Herasid, the paladin whose mama's a bear.

Well, Druid, but close enough. She turns into a bear.

As for Max…

Nik and I debated long and hard over what to do for Max's training. Blaine had to go deeper into the territory for something, Nathan's disappeared off into Lost Territory again to raise his Level up to 250 at last, and most of the Dark Knights who know more than just Fireball are unavailable for one reason or another.

Plus, we want Max to know more than just fire magics. Some monsters – like slimes – will absorb their elements instead of taking damage, especially if it's a stronger one or a more powerful one. A Level 1 Slime can absorb Max's Fireballs almost completely. A Level 2 one can absorb them entirely.

While people are starting to accept beastborn, at least here, asking someone to put up with one for a few days as a person and Adventurer isn't right, and it wouldn't work out, especially with Max's communication issues.

Really, only I and other beastborn can properly communicate with him right now. We discussed having one of the older beastborn act as a translator, but nixed that idea. There are now fifty servants of the Dark Knights, and one of the female monkey beastborn seems to be able to communicate normally. Complete sentences, no attempts to use mental thoughts, and all that. We think she trained in it for the last few years, though haven't asked. When talking to beastborn, she slips right back into the normal way for them. There's an older wolf beastborn who is starting to speak with words as well, though his speech is also moderately better than Max's.

In the end, we decided that I'll just tell Max to bring Fireball as high as he can while also learning Wind Spike, Waterball, and Stone Spike and bringing them all up to Level 3. He'll also be tasked with attempting to reach Level 5 of Novice Elementalist. As an incentive beyond just doing what I say, I'm going to offer him a full gold as a reward.

Even though he'll be earning more than that in his training, no doubt, it won't be from Boss, which means that even a smaller amount can act as a higher incentive.

Personally, I am uncomfortable with the idea of splitting us up so soon after everyone meets, but Nik said it's also good for everyone to have their own space for a little while and every now and then. It'll also supposedly be better for everyone to have trainers of their own type, too, rather than being taught by me.

Admittedly, that's a good point. I just don't like the idea of splitting us up, especially since… never mind. I can worry about that later. Max is the one I worry about the most with this, but Nik promised to have at least two Dark Knights watching him at all times. Gavin and Braden will both be with trusted, powerful Adventurers, and not only will Luca be with one, but he'll be nearby to me, too.

"What are the Classes?" Braden pulls me out of my thoughts.

"The basics," I say. "Are knights, magicians, rogues, hunters, and healers. Luca is a Novice, on his way to Priest. They're healers and provide support to teammates. Pretty much everything they do is healing, buffs are other Classes. Max is a Novice Elementalist, a type of magician who specializes in using elemental magics. Gavin is a Squire, on his way to be a Knight, which is the most basic of knight Classes. I'm a Dark Knight, we're a more specialized version of Knight, and one of the two more powerful versions of it for the Rank 1 Classes. Our opposite is the Paladin."

"What do Dark Knights do?" He asks.

"We fight using blood, fire, and darkness," I explain. "We use the basic Fireball spell, we can use our own Health to fuel certain Skills, we can increase our damage based on how much Health we're missing, and we can even use certain Skills that grow stronger the more Health we're missing or we've lost in the last few seconds. We can manipulate and use shadows and darkness, as well as instill fear in opponents or taunt them into a frenzy.

"We aren't evil, though," I say, sensing his unease. "We're actually the only order of Class where every member is liked by the Crystal they worship and serve. We all have similar personalities, which is actually often pretty normal among those with the same Crystal alignment. Ours is Dark of Fire, meaning we align best with Big Flame, who is the one we worship, same as Blood Priests. Even though we aren't the guards of the various Cities, we also act as interrogators of certain types of prisoners, hunters of those who serve the Shadow of Life, and we don't take nonsense. We're also the worst type of person to anger. Invoking the wrath of a Dark Knight can result in pain and even death.

"Max is a beastborn," I continue. "Something native to the Boundaries. According to the Crystals, they don't exist anywhere else."

"Boundaries?"

Oops. He's a sharp one.

"The various regions of the Boundary," I shrug. "There are quite a few of them, and a lot of them have natural barriers, such as the mountains that surround us here in Naelmar Valley. We're the final frontier, by the way. The Shadow of Life's forces have been overtaking the Boundary little by little, and in the next few months, there's going to be a massive battle. If they fall this City, the rest of the Boundary will soon follow, despite its immense size. That's part of why we're all about training and not fun right now."

"Oh," he says, but doesn't ask about the possibility of him – a kid – going deeper into the territory to avoid the fight.

That's likely part of why the Crystals thought to send him here. He won't back down, just like me.

"Back to the beastborn," I say. "Despite being native to the Boundary, they don't have Access to the System, which means no Levels, no Class, no Skills, no Stats, nothing. They also dream, which is something no human does."

"You do," Luca mutters.

"Those aren't dreams," I remind him, bopping him on the top of his head. "Those are visions. I see possible future events. That's different from a dream."

"Right," he mutters.

"As a result," I look at Braden. "Of the mentioned things with beastborn, they aren't seen as people and treated like crap. Most are slaves, though the Dark Order is working to change that and is offering spots as servants rather than slaves. No collars, clothes if they want it, food, bed, training, and so on.

"As slaves," I continue. "They're treated terribly. When I first met Max, he was a nameless, beaten, malnourished slave. As with most beastborn, he didn't even have a loincloth – from what I can tell, he lost it a few weeks before we met because he peed without his master's permission. His master served the Shadow of Life. I knew Max would be on my team because of my visions, and when I saw him, a rage fueled me. His master is now dead. Gold is another beastborn, you'll see him and his brother, Aurum, around from time to time. Gold was the first to have Access, while Max is the second.

"Before Luca came to the Boundary," I say. "Gold was threatened. Wounded. Someone was trying to steal from me, and they wanted to use Gold and a friend of mine named Kylie against me. He had a knife to Gold's throat. I didn't just kill him, I lost myself into a rage so bad, he was scattered across the street."

Braden looks nervous and scared, and I can sense that coming from him, too.

"When Luca's twin brother Braden," I say, and Luca grabs my arm, pulling himself against me as he starts to shake, and I wrap an arm around his shoulders, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "Was killed by a monster in Talorn, a Fallen City, I went on a pseudo-rampage there. I killed a lot of monsters while fueled by the power of my Rage Skill, which increases my Strength the higher my rage is.

"I'm just a kid," I tell him. "And there's an entire order of us, the Dark Order. We aren't people to be crossed, as even a kid can be so damaging and dangerous. I know that what I said makes you even more uneasy, Braden, but you are not my enemy, and it takes something truly awful to spark that rage.

"If you want to see the kind side of us," I continue. "Just look at Luca. He clings to me for comfort and reassurance. You can ask the beastborn. If one of them will talk to you – so far, only three talk to people – they'll sing the praises of the Dark Order almost literally. Talk to any powerful team, and they'll tell you that while they're uncomfortable with us, they more than likely either have or want a Dark Knight on their team. I, like all Dark Knights, protect our own."

I stand and exit the bath, and Luca follows. We dry off and pull on our night clothes again, then head up to bed, leaving Braden to think. Better that he knows than doesn't. Gavin already butts heads with me, so telling him the full truth would probably make him leave, and I'd rather not have him leave. He needs to get to know me first.

But for Braden… something told me I should tell him, so I did.

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

(Braden)

For what feels like forever, I just sit here in the bath, thinking over what Zack said. He really didn't sound like someone I'd want to be with, but Luca was clinging to him, especially once his brother was mentioned. It sounded like his brother shared my name.

Not sure what to make of my potential leader, I climb out of the bath, dry off, and dress again, then take a walk. I don't know why I do, it just feels right, like something that helps clear my head. Should I stay with Zack? Or should I try to do something else, on my own?

I'm so confused, I don't even know what to think. My head just swirls and swirls, and…

He has dog ears. I stop walking and stare at the kid standing only a few yards in front of me. He has dog ears. Something tells me that's not right, but he does. He also has a dog's tail. They and his hair are golden in color. Maybe that something is my old self? Lord Light of Air said that we'd get senses like that from time to time, even without our memories.

Is this a beastborn, then?

The beastborn tilts his head to the side, his ears sticking up, and his tail swishes from side to side a little. He's dressed in a pair of black pants, a red tunic with black trim, and a black belt with a crimson buckle shaped like flames. In his arms is a basket filled with what look like some sort of buns coated with a sticky substance.

He doesn't have any weapons, so I guess he's not a fighter. One of the Dark Knights' servants, then? Are those sticky buns for the Dark Knights?

"H-hi?" I offer a greeting.

He approaches, and I remember what Zack said about only three beastborn actually talking to people. He wasn't serious with that, was he? Are they not able to? Are only some capable of it? This one looks like a dog one. Is he one of the ones who can?

The beastborn sniffs at me.

"You smell like Hero Zack," he comments. "Same soap Hero Zack uses."

Hero Zack? Is he talking about Zack? Why is he calling him 'Hero', too?

"My current party leader is named Zack," I tell him, and his face lights up. "But I might leave."

"Why?" He tilts his head to the side again, his ears no longer sticking up, though his tail still swishes, even if the movement's only slight. His eyes are blue, I realize. "Hero Zack good. Friendly. Fun. Awesome."

"He's a Dark Knight," I say. "And he made him sound scary."

"Hero Zack scary," he nods. "But also good. Better than most. Hero Zack be a Dark Knight. They be the best."

"But… he also goes on rampages," I say. "He sounds frightening."

The beastborn thinks for a few moments.

"Come," he tells me. "Me tell you stuff. Hero Zack be scary, but also be good. We beastborn worship Hero Zack. He do great deeds. Me tell you about them. You be see after, Hero Zack not evil, only good, even when scary. He be very good."