"How will this keep you alive you may be wondering. Easy. Those." Alice says, pointing out the props and outcroppings. "Those are to practice ducking and dodging behind. And that." she says, pointing at the wall. "That is to learn to run up. The different markings are for where to place your feet. Observe." she says and takes off running.

She runs fast, so fast I don't hear her footfalls. I then see her throw herself at the wall as she kicks at it. One foot then the next. Boom, boom, boom. She kicks off from each marking, foot dead center as she leaps down the alley. She then runs across the wall, making it a good 100 feet before dipping back to the ground and going up the next wall. I was suitably impressed and wanted to be able to do that as well.

"Alright I'm going to call your names and tell you what area to go to. I have helpers there in the different areas to help you. Say hi helpers."

"Hi helpers!" they all shout in unison while waving at the class. Somehow Alice's energy is infectious.

She calls names and sends people to different areas, she sends me to the running wall where she is.

"Alright Amaya you will start over here with me. You saw how I ran the walls, right?"

"That is indeed correct."

"Very good. Now then, let's see how well you can do it."

"Well that is my cue, I'm out. I'll see you after class. If you need me I will be on the highest platform basking in the sunlight." Cat says as he leaps from my shoulder.

I nod my head, showing that I understand what I was being asked to do. I run at it and got my feet in the correct places in a few spots along the way. When I really tried to hit a high foot marker I slipped and fell flat onto my bottom. That was rather not my favorite.

Alice makes her way over to me, grinning. "Wow, that is a new record! I haven't seen someone else hit so many markings on their first try! Here is what we are going to do now. We are going to take the walls in sections. I will show you how to do a specific section and we will drill you on that section until you can get most of the placements, then we will work another section. We will then put those two sections together and work you on that. I know that this sounds boring and tedious but having strong maneuverability is very important to a dual wielder. Now then."

With that, we started doing exactly as she said, over and over. My feet began hitting the markings but I wanted to get this all down as fast as I could. I know that this is just my first day and it will all come with time but alas, I am not doing this for money or glory but instead to save a god.

'I don't believe you to be bad. I don't think that you could be bad. You are silly. Also, yes, even if you are bad I would still save you. You have been the voice in my head since I was a small child.'

'I'm trying!'

"You got so close on that one Amaya. Push it a little more. I know the higher you go the more it hurts but trust me, this is a skill worth knowing."

I groan, sore, but I know that she is right. I bend my knees and keep my eyes focused ahead. I knew what I needed to do, and I know that I can do it. I can do this!

I run, I run fast but not hard. I run light and easy on my feet, not going as fast as I can, staying in control. I hit low on one wall, then low on the next. Move my feet a little higher on this side, stay even on the other. I do this for a while until I am hitting higher and am running across the wall. For a few heartbeats before I slide off.

"Alright class, that was great. Get some rest and I will see you tomorrow!"

Class is already over? I feel that class shouldn't already be over. Did we only do half a class today? I look at my watch and am startled to see that we had the entire class. How had time gone by so quickly? Had I really just spent my entire last hour trying to run up a wall?

I leave the area and wonder when this skill is going to be useful. I understand that it is of the utmost import for an adventurer to know how to utilize everything around them. It is obvious that Alice knows what she is talking about though so I will choose to trust her.

"Hey Amaya, I am going to come to the Paws and Claws Inn and Tavern tonight so be sure that you give me a nice, big frothy mug of ale okay! And don’t forget teachers get the first drink for free, totally a rule." she says brightly.

I hear some people behind me whispering the words, paws and claws, beast-kin and whore. There was no combination of those words that would be acceptable. They best mind their tongues. The people of that inn are lovely! And beast-kin are perfectly lovely.

As I make my way out of the class area Cat takes his place on my shoulder.

"Ignore those people Ami. They have no idea what they are talking about."

"I am rather good at ignoring things." I calmly tell Cat.

"Saying things like that makes me worry about you. Where did you grow up? Why do you have a skill like that?"

"I grew up in a lovely place full of many wonderful people. There are simply times that a good child stays out of the way of adult conversations."

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"I don't know how to respond to that. So I am not going to." Cat says calmly.

"So where are we heading Cat?"

"There is a little trail down that way."

"We are not going back to the lecture class area?" I ask him.

"Of course not. Survival 101 is not a lecture class. People can talk at you a bunch about things that you need to know, but that won't help you learn it. Now down that trail."

I follow Cat and marvel at all of the trails that were around here. “I truly thought of this as a town and did not think that there would be so many trails.”

"All dungeon towns have them. We keep a few places wild so that we have areas that are closer to the dungeon to teach new adventurers survival in."

"That makes sense, and is not something that I would have thought of needing."

"I had similar thoughts myself when I came here to be an adventurer. It is strange to think of forests deep underground, but you get used to it."

"You didn't grow up here?" I ask Cat.

"No. I was born and raised in Veidas until my little sister got sick. I was twelve at the times and made my way here. I survived for a while, pretending to be a normal Cat. It helped me learn a lot more about the area and its people. I also saw that the best way to make money was to become an adventurer. As soon as I was able to, I took the test, and I am the youngest in the history of this town to do so."

"That is remarkably admirable Cat." I tell him and scratch him beneath the chin. He purrs, pleased at the attention.

Veidas was to the south of Pleasure Gardens, half a day away by carriage.

"How is your sister doing now?"

"My mom was able to get her the medicine that she needed and she was able to make a full recovery. She has the energy of ten little girls and is just as loving. On my next vacation I will go and visit her. You and Kay are welcome to come along too. It is good to get away from the dungeon on occasion."

"Thank you for your kindness and consideration. I shall do so."

We walk in companionable silence as we get closer to the area.

"Cat! Ami! Wait for meeeee." Kay says, as he runs at us.

"How was your class Kay? It seems as though it might very well have given you more energy then you had before we parted ways."

"Does it really seem that way? Haha, maybe that is because I love magic just that much. I didn't think we would get to use any already and I am so excited! I got to use magic all class. I got to boil water, and freeze water, and make a pinwheel spin and cause a tiny mound of earth to have a teeny tiny earthquake. Oh, and we did a competition to see who can hold a spell for the longest. Guess who won?"

"You?"

"Who told you! I mean, yeah it was me. Yay!"

"Congratulations Kay that is wonderful!" I say, praising him.

"Haha thanks. I never win anything, so this makes me really happy." he does a little hop while clapping his hands.

"What did you win Kay? Biggest moron? Biggest failure? Most annoying voice? Because you could take first place in all of those." Rex says, sneering. Why did he have to pop up and sour the moment.

"What did you do in class today Ami? Did you practice stabbing things?" Kay asks.

"I practiced running up a wall."

"You did what? I don’t know if you know this, but that isn’t what walls are for."

"I learned how to run up a wall. It is supposed to make it easier for me to learn to utilize all different areas in the dungeon. It seems to be rather important to be versatile." I tell him.

"That is true. But running up a wall? I guess that is kind of cool. Were you any good at it?"

"No. No of course she isn't good at it. That is a hard skill and she is just a shy little girl. Pathetic." Rex says, clearly angry that we are ignoring him.

Rex could be as irate as he wanted to be. I did not feel like giving him the time of day. This may not be my smartest move, and I may come to regret it, but he simply isn't worth my time.

"I set a new record in having the most correct foot placements for a first run." I tell him. I wanted to share good things with him, the way that I used to with Nila. I miss Nila. I hope that she is doing well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nila strips off her clothing and slides down into the bath. There were lavender salts in the water today and they felt simply heavenly. She had been needing to do this more often lately, ever since her dear sweet Sakura left. Or, it was Amaya now she supposed. Her body simply felt heavier since she had left. It was the weight of loneliness.

She trailed her fingers through the water and threw up a prayer that her friend, that her sister, finds good people to keep around her. That she is able to learn quickly and make friends.

"I wonder if she will come back after she does whatever it is that the silly voice in her head needs her to do." she says to herself.

Would that be what is the best thing for her? For her to come back? It was a lovely place, and she was blessed to be living here, but this doesn't seem to be the life that many would choose.

"Is this the life that I wish to choose for myself?" Nila asks herself. She is saddened when she comes to the answer. No. No, this was not the life that she would have chosen for herself.

She wished that she had gone with Sakura, but she had a debt that she needed to repay. Sure, Sakura's mother said that she would forgive her debt but she did not wish to impose upon the will of such a truly lovely person.

"This is a lovely place to live though." she says and sinks down into the water. She couldn't help it, but a small part of her heart wished that Sakura, that Amaya, would come and take her away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow Ami that is amazing!" Kay says cheerfully. "Is that something that you are going to write home about?"

"Yes! I believe that it is." I tell him.

"Oh? Do you have any younger or older siblings that you plan on exchanging letters with?"

"I have someone that is as close as a sister to me. I consider her my sister. Does that count?" I ask him.

"I think so? After all it is the only way that I have family, except for Rex here." Kay says, but says it more as a question than a statement.

I open my mouth to inquire further about this familial relation.

"We are here." Cat tell us.

And indeed, it seemed that we were. It looked like a very large camping ground. Not that I have ever been to one, but I read a great many books and they had a picture of a campground in one of them. I thought that it looked like great fun, especially the marshmallows.

"Hello class. It is nice to meet all of you. My name is Almirisa." she tells us. "I will be your instructor for Survival 101. I hope that you came prepared to learn. And not book learning. We won't be using books in this class, and we won't have places for you to take notes either. So it will be in your best interest to pay attention and to learn what I will be teaching you.

"Now that I have your attention please select a buddy. This person will be your buddy all year so I hope that you like this person. Why a buddy? Because it is good to know how to lean on one another. Possibly quite literally. Any questions?"

"No." we all say.

"Good. Now hop to." she says.

Kay and I look at one another.

"Buddies?" he asks.

"Of course!" I respond happily.

Behind us we hear Rex's underlings fighting over who gets to be paired with him. In the end he tells them to party up and he asks a female classmate to be his partner. She agrees. My sympathies go out to her.

"Alright. Now then. Many of your courses will only run for 3 months. We only have a year to teach you to be adventurers so that makes sense. This is not one of those classes. You will be in this class until you pass your exam and become full adventurers or die or drop out. Your choice."

"Why?" someone shouts out.

"Because if there is one thing that an adventurer needs how to do, it is to survive. You will be learning to pack your own food, mend your own equipment, how to fight unarmed as well as learning to fight when someone has caught you unsuspecting. You will also be learning first aid, how to find shelter, pitch a tent and whatever else I feel like teaching you. If there are no more questions, let's get started."