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Chapter 6.

The gentle rays of sunlight nudged me from my sleep, I yawned and rose up ready to go on my day.

The lush and extravagant room I awoke to bring me back into reality.

I was not back home, I was in a different world, staying at a church that I became leader of by dint of a class I didn’t ask for. My mind wandered to yesterday's events, to the many mistakes I have made and the questions unasked.

There was nothing I could do about it now, but continue forward.

There was a change of cloth ready for me at a table in the corner of the room, deciding I had no reason to delay. I took off the sweaty and dirty clothes that got brought with me and changed into the shirt and pants provided to me. They were dyed blue and green which for the technological level this world seed to possess, should have been expensive but perhaps magic and classes changed that.

There was also a pitcher of water and some kind of powder next to it, as well as a small brush which I identified as a toothbrush if one that was different from what I was used to.

Well at least this world has dental health products, I wouldn't want my teeth to rot.

With my preparations for the day complete I exited my room and went down to the dining hall for breakfast. Refreshed from a good night sleep and with day light shining through the windows the mansion interior was totally different.

There were a lot more rooms than I expected and many paintings of various battles and fights, from valiant knights holding out against hordes of undead to bare chested gladiators triumphing over some kind of troll, the scenes painted as fantastic as this world I found myself in.

When I reached the dining hall, I found it occupied but almost fifty different people, all in some manner of robe or armor. Brenda was nowhere to be found but her handy work could be seen in the large offering of bread, cheese and scrambled eggs.

Picking up a plate, I grabbed a bit of everything -even some salad- before sitting down at the central table, the one Tristen was at. Making my way, it didn’t escape my notice that I became the center of attention, people stopping their meals to stare and look at me.

Which makes sense, this is a church, most of those who eat here would be priests or other members of the faith and my class literally calls me a chosen of their goddess, their reaction makes total sense under that farmwork, it’s a little like if the pope visited some random church and didn’t say anything until the day of.

Still, I didn’t let it bother me ignoring both their staring and their whispering as I sat down next to Tristen.

He wasn’t alone at the table, a buff, one armed man with an eye patch sat across from him. The guy's expression bore into me, as if judging my very soul.

"Urd, please" Tristen said and the man -known as Urd- grunted before relenting and rolling his one eye. Tristen for his part just ignored the antics and turned to me "Markus, this is Urd" he introduced "Urd here is one of the best trainers in the city, he trained hundreds of legionnaires before his retirement and now he's going to train you".

I looked the Urd over again and yeah, I can see it, the guys built like a mountain and he has the bearing of some of the veterans I knew back home. I nodded my head in thanks to Tristen, I might not want to get into fights but I knew enough about this world to know that getting training in utilizing my class and skills is going to be worth it.

I flashed Urd a small smile, before digging into my meal, it was simple but just like the soup from yesterday the test was divine. Way better than anything you could find back home.

Honestly, I could get used to this.

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This is so totally not worth it.

I huffed and puffed as I tried breathing as fast as I could, gasping for every bit of air.

"Who said you could stop? Up and at it you still have ten more laps!" I looked over at Urd, no at the devil that took it as his personal mission to torture me.

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We were in some kind of private training field, a small one sounded by large stone walls, it was connected to a modest house, Urds house to be exact. It wasn't anything special, just soft ground and some mannequins in different forms to the side.

I wanted to argue, I wanted to say I was beat and that I'm done but I tried doing that fifty laps ago and he just began kicking me until I started running again. Not wishing to be rendered to Urd kicking barrage once again I got up and finished the ten laps despite my body screaming at me for every step.

Finally done, I collapsed to the ground, letting the cool ground claim me.

"Adequate" Urd proclaimed "drink this" he handed me a small glass bottle with bright red liquid swirling inside it.

"What is it?"

"A mailable body potion, it would help you build your muscles" well that sounds useful. I popped open the bottle and swallowed the entire potion in one gulp. It has a sweet taste, a little like peach.

"Don’t move" Urd said after I finished with the potion "the potion would make your body more vulnerable while it works and for the first few minutes as it spreads through your body that effect is particularly effective, enough that even slight movements can cause significant damage."

"Shouldn’t you have told me that before I drank it?"

"That might have stopped you from drinking it" He replied, unashamed. "But now that we've finished our first training session, it is tradition that I ask about your expectations for my training. I know your circumstances are beyond the norm but it's an important part."

"My expectations huh?" I wondered, what did I expect out of the training, I planned to stay at the back and buff not be in the thick of it. "I suppose it's to get good enough I won't die if someone manages to reach me by chance."

"That’s a good estimate of your ability" Urd began "I'll be honest with you, we don’t have enough time to get you to the level where you could fight and win against an orc raider but if you give the training your all, we can get you to a level where surviving is not only a possibility but a likely outcome."

"Well, that's good" and I meant it too. Whether I ended up staying or leaving, getting a basic ability to survive in this new world was paramount. "Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Oh?"

"Can you give me some advice on what kind of skill I should choose for my last two slots?"

"Do you have free skill slots?" Urd asked, confused.

"Umm, yes?" I said even more confused "did Tristen not explain my situation to you?"

"He did but I was not expecting you to have more than a single skill slot."

"Why?" I asked.

Urd smiled self-deprecatingly "because it's one thing to be told you started with a higher fold class and quite another to realize the implication to the complete greenhorn in front of me but never mind me. Ask your question".

Setting Asid, the fact that I apparently had more skill slots then I was supposed to, I pulled my character sheet and skill selection status and described the offered skills to him.

Smite- Gather divine might and strike at the heretics, a pillar of light and fire to burn them all to ash.

Roar of terror- Roar with the authority of the divine, roar with the power of valor and let it flee from your opponent's hearts.

Holy strike- Infuse the power of Valor into a weapon and strike the unbeliever with it, burning their cowardly flesh.

Body of courage- Infuse the power of Valor into your body, infuse it with divinity and rise above mortality.

Beacon of resolve- Let not one man fall behind, let not one man fall to his knees, let not one man find fear in their hearts. Raise your hand and shine the light of resolve, a beacon for all in the howling dark.

Urd listened to my description and fell deep into thoughts, a few moments later he said "I would pick Body of courage and Beacon of resolve."

"Why?" I asked, intrigued as to his reasoning.

"Well Roar of Terror is voice based, just like Words of courage so you'll only really be able to use one of them at a time. If you had more experience that would likely change but you don’t so the point is moot. Holy strike, require that you actually come within weapon range to your opponent to be useful and you just plainly won't have enough energy for smite, the skill should have appeared way later in your class progression and its energy consumption is appropriate to its rank."

Not seeing anything inherently wrong with his logic, I decided to pick Body of Courage and Beacon of Resolve. He wasn’t the only one I asked but Tristen's answer of Roar of terror -he agreed on Beacon of resolve- didn’t seem right when put in the context of Urd reasoning.

With the potion initial effect wearing off and the training session being done, I started making my way back to the church. Eying the sixth skill I've been offered. The one I decided to tell no one about.

Avatar- Become a conduit for divinity, inspire Valor and bravery as Atia walks the mortal realms through you.

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