Clyde was realizing that he had a lot to learn, as did Travis and their entire faction if he was honest. Talking to the two people that said they were a part of a magic academy was enlightening. At first, it seemed like the leader of the two, a guy named Patrick, was going to be stingy with information.

Once they learned that Travis had a mission in their home and that they were all about growing things in a positive way, he settled down somewhat. It didn't hurt that his partner, the very attractive Cassandra, was not playing along.

Since everything went down, the experiences of Travis and Clyde had been very narrow. They had to travel from the east coast, then there were fights and struggles along the way that led nowhere but took precious time and energy. Finally setting up their base, they thought everything was good to go, but that just led to more fights and struggles.

Meeting and befriend, if you could call it that, the uber powerful werewolf mage might could prove beneficial. As a matter of fact, it already did at least once, but in the grand scheme of the things that this world offered, it didn't move the needle.

This trip was meant to be an opportunity for 'adventure,' if you could call it that, as well as learning more about how other people were dealing with it all. Even then, if Travis didn't have a mission based around finding this other base, they might have just stayed local and worked on building up the stronghold.

Now that he was exposed to other people who either had or were with player characters, he was learning that they had much more dynamic stories to tell. For one thing, the very concept of an academy to him was almost silly, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It had been 6 months or something since things went down, so why were they not more advanced in their world-building?

Clyde thought he knew what others might say because Travis didn't understand how to play the game, literally, not as some metaphor. He didn't think it was that simple, though. For one, he did know how to play the game, but their missions and experiences seemed to keep them local, and there were not many locals taking advantage of everything the world had to offer.

Of the best people that they ended up taking in, Paul, Javier, Sophie, and Gary, none of them had any understanding of how to take advantage of a world set up like an RPG. Again, he did, but his role was as a sidekick, second in command, and not as an opinion maker. He preferred it that way.

In time, he could have built his little magic apprenticeship into something more robust, but it was just him and Omar. From what these two were telling him, his base was like the small town you start in just to learn the game, and theirs was the major city where everything happened. In some of his favorite games, that would have been Megaton, the Imperial City, Novgorod, Baldur's Gate, or Neverwinter.

His base was more like Rifkin or Burma, some little shithole. Okay, now he was just being a pessimist, but he would be lying if he said that there wasn't some truth to it all, and it pissed him off. They were now behind, and it was partly his fault. Travis basically let him decide on game-based decisions; he should have pushed harder for more scouting, more recruitment, setting up a smithy or something.

It was just an excuse to say he didn't have the equipment; every time they tried to do something game-like and they were in need, a mission gave them the chance to acquire what they needed.

Enough complaining to himself; he was going to talk to Travis. They had to take advantage of this new situation, learn what they could but also maybe try to integrate the place into JTF. Another thing, even the name made it seem like they were just some squad, instead of a potential nation-state.

That reminded him, “Hey Cass, what is the name of your faction?”

“Middle City,” she said.

“Middle City, huh? Is that a play on Middle Earth, or is it copying the Warcraft city name?”

Cass had a puzzled look on her face. Travis walked up the stairs at that moment, “Does she look like someone who would know fantasy city names, Clyde?” He said it with a nice smile.

Patrick bristled at that, “What's that supposed to mean?” Meanwhile, Cass was blushing because she understood, and realization sank in for Clyde too.

Travis looked at the man who would not be out of place at a Magic the Gathering Convention, “When was the last time you saw a beautiful woman at your weekly RPG session, Pat?” He was learning to use his powers and accompanied the question with a tiny bit of spirit magic, just shutting down the man's will to argue.

The last thing he wanted to do was follow up his compliment with some petty show of force because he wasn't a huge fan of Patrick.

He turned as if not waiting for a reply and went over to Clyde and Cassandra, “Have you decided what we are going to do?”

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“Yes, we are going to ride the portal with them. I know you wanted to explore, but this place sounds like it's exactly what we need in terms of information and materials. Not to mention completing these missions we have.”

He was resigned to the fact that they needed to move this journey along. That stupid demon, who was a creampuff compared to some other monsters he fought, held them up for hours. He knew it would be something else if they continued to walk.

“Does the portal take us directly into the town?” he thought Patrick said it transported them to a safe house or something.

Clyde looked at Cass, who was far easier to get information from of the two, “Not directly into it. Our,” she looked at Patrick to see that he was in earshot, “master doesn't want to risk us bringing something uninvited through.”

“How long does it stay open after everyone intended goes through?” Clyde asked.

“Once the last person is through, it closes, but the portal doesn't know who the last person is; it's based on time. It's been different most times, but after a few seconds, if no one is close, it will close. But a smart monster could stalk the portal and run through if it had the timing down.”

“Makes sense,” Travis and Clyde said at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled.

Cass looked at them smiling as well, “How long have you two been together?”

“Since the first day everything went down. This guy over here,” Travis pointed at Clyde, “was stalking a group of werewolves.” Cass winced when she heard that. Travis didn't know why until Patrick got closer.

“You have seen werewolves? Bipedal or on all fours, were they like Underworld Lycans or more generic wolves with shapeshifting ability?” Patrick asked in an excited tone.

Travis didn't know what he was going on about, but Clyde did, “They are very much like the ones from Underworld except without the ability to shapeshift, as far as we know, that is. But we encountered a very powerful version, and if they could change, I think we would have seen it.”

They continued talking as Cass walked over to Travis; they went into the next room, “He has a book cataloging the monsters, weaknesses, and stuff. What is it called again?” She thought for a few seconds, “Oh yeah, a bestiary. They take it very seriously back at our base.”

“That's smart,” Travis said, and she gave him a sideways look. “No really, we are pretty far behind because I don't know shit about this stuff. If I didn't meet Clyde, I would be lost. Sometimes I forget altogether to check my journal even though I've said more than once that I had to take it more seriously.”

“What's it like having a journal? I can't wait to get one, but I'm only level three, and Pavel says there's more to do after that.”

He thought for a moment, is this guy bullshitting her. He didn't remember exactly, but he thought all it took was being level 5 and in a faction. He actually still had a spare journal, but hadn't made that known. Sophie probably deserved it, but he had to be honest, he liked this Cassandra.

“I don't know, I feel like it's not very hard once you are level 5, hmm.” He left that hanging. Travis wasn't the type to be slick to get a woman, but he didn't want to outright say her “master” was a lying piece of shit. Assuming it was her master, but he didn't want to talk about some other guy.

“But yeah, it's cool having a journal. I've had it since day one. The poor guy that delivered it, I hit him with some martial arts move, and all he was trying to do was give me mine.” He laughed, and she did too.

They talked a little longer before Clyde came in, “Looks like we are ready to go.”

“Okay, what does this thing look like, have you done it yet?” Travis wondered to Cass.

“Yeah, this will be my third time. There is an artificer that pumps out scrolls like this back at base.”

Clyde almost shit himself when he heard that, “Wait, what?! You have an artificer?”

Cass was confused, “Yeah, I know you said there hasn't been as much fantasy stuff as you'd like, but you haven't come across an artificer?”

“They are common?” He was going to lose his shit at that. All of a sudden, he was going from the number two to the entire game's main character to some hillbilly that had never experienced what a real city had to offer.

“Well, I guess not. Maybe I am just spoiled living where I do. There are two back at base, and I've heard of others but haven't seen them. Where do you get your scrolls from?”

“So far, everything has come from the chest.” This is where his experience would be superior.

“The chest? What, like a treasure chest?”

Travis took this one, “When you are the faction leader and you discover your HQ, there is a chest in there. Ours was full of items.”

Patrick walked in, and Travis could read him as easy as a children's book with nothing but pictures, “How many people did you say are back at your base?”

Clyde knew enough not to answer this, and he looked at Travis, “A good amount. We just haven't thought to branch out. Killing monsters is a full-time job, and we have a bunch of real badasses in our faction. Just no admin types or whatever else.” The MC did lay it on kind of thick, but that's what was required in this situation he knew. This was the type of person to get ideas of grandeur, well not him but he would snitch to the guy that did.

Patrick looked deflated, “Oh good then. Okay, well, I'm ready to call the portal. When we get to the other side, there will be some heavily armed guards in a small room, don't get jumpy. I will tell them that you are okay.”

Travis did not love that, but apparently, they would make up over 15 miles with this teleport.

“I have to use my most expensive scroll since there are so many of you; I just want you to know. These are common sure, but not cheap, especially the one I will be using.”

“What is the currency at your base?” Travis asked.

“It's mostly been barter, but there have been gold and silver coins show up from time to time. But then the jerks try to make you overpay because no one knows how much they should be worth.” Cass replied.

Everyone nodded their heads at that. Travis moved his hand in front of him like a magician; a gold coin appeared. He flipped it to the man, “Here, this should cover our passage through your portal.”

Patrick dropped it, killing the cool move somewhat, but Cass was impressed. Clyde, who was watching closely, had seen it before. She was smitten. He laughed even though he knew he shouldn't. Cass blushed as Patrick looked on confused. Straight people are a trip Clyde thought with an internal chuckle.

Moments later everyone was collected and ready to go through the portal. A very different and very eventful part of the main characters journey was about to begin, and if things did not go well, end.