Rosa loved her new life already, she had always been interested more in the world around her and now it felt like she knew everything. She had lived in the terrarium her whole life and her whole life she had had Terry. He was always happy to take her in hand, play with her, clean her area and generally knew exactly what to do to keep her content, healthy and happy.

With her new life she wanted to be direct and also return the favor to Terry. She had gained the ability to talk and knew so many interesting things about their new world and life on The Deck. Rosa wanted to help and felt like she owed Terry for all the time he had just taken care of her with only companionship as the reward.

So she was a little scared the next day when Terry slept in. She had expected it and she was comfortable where she had been placed to sleep, it was a large gallon jar much like her travel jar. There was a difference with this jar however that Rosa appreciated, it could lay on its side and not roll allowing her to enter and exit as she pleased.

As the hours passed and Terry remained sleeping peacefully a nagging and worried thought came into Rosa’s mind and despite all she knew, she did not know how to diagnose and tell why Terry was sleeping in so long. At mid morning a servant, different from Giles, entered and introduced himself when Rosa emerged and asked after her own master.

“He had quite a day from what I was informed. He will probably sleep for a good while. I have brought you some breakfast and we will let him be. After you are done, Mother Martin has requested you come and visit her?” It was barely a question, more like a quiet demand. It seemed the Mother of the manor was not to be ignored.

Rosa agreed and ate appreciatively, she was interested in talking to the old player and seeing what she might know. Despite having all this trivia like knowledge of the world she had no real first hand experience with any of the information in her head. She crawled on to the hand of the servant and was taken to the master room. It was bright with the light through the windows and Rosa noticed there was a stairway to a loft space that overlooked the room. The servant took her up the staircase to reveal a work area with a large desk and a few bookcases dotted with books and souvenirs.

Mother Martin rose from behind the desk and stepped forward as the servant came to the top of the stairs, “good morning child, did you sleep well?” Mother Martin’s voice was rough with age, but very kind as she approached and offered a wrinkled calloused hand for Rosa to crawl onto.

Once Rosa answered in the affirmative and transferred herself on to the worn and warm hand of the mistress of the house. Mother Martin dismissed the servant and brought Rosa to the desk, setting her on a leather document pad.

Mother Martin began, “I am not one to stall or waste time now dear, so I will go straight to the point. I want to train Terry and you, to be a player and familiar.”

Rosa was nodded excited by the offer, “I think that would be great! Terry did a lot yesterday earning all his attributes and beating all the levels at this gateway.”

“And from what I have heard, he did a good job of it as well, I wanted to ask you about the level he did solo after Hurk and Morris carried off the gnomes?” Mother Martin asked, and Rosa gave an explanation of why he went into the level and what happened. She did not tell her what the knives' abilities were as Terry would probably go over all that in training.

“I see.” Mother Martin replied and thought for a moment, drinking from a nice tea cup.”There is a lot for Terry to learn, he has some instincts and natural talent. I think it is just about sharpening the skills and getting him acquainted with the dangers within a level. Morris was impressed by the miniboss and I believe Selina saw the potential. They are good kids. I raised them in a ward ship and got Selina a place at that school. They can be strong teammates for the challenges to come. Do you believe Terry will accept the help?”

Rosa was happy with the assessment and replied, ”Oh I think he will enjoy the company and the training, he is lonelier than he lets on. I did want to ask, why is he sleeping so hard?”

Mother Martin nodded, “I am sure he is glad to have you along and he will be more thankful once we get you both trained up. Yesterday took a lot out of him and I mean that literally. The Upgrade potions give you power and abilities, with few drawbacks at first. The main side effect is felt later and that is a deep deep exhaustion. They repair, purify and perfect the one that they are made for. It can be deadly if you drink someone else's, Attribute Upgrades are made personally for the player who earned them. But they change you in many ways. I have never heard of anyone getting all their Upgrades in one day let alone drinking them all, it was almost foolish and I am not sure how long he will take to recover. “

Rosa was worried, but Mother Martin reassured her, “I am a very experienced healer, dear. I know the best way to treat and care for people in deep sleeps, and know that is all it is deep, deep sleep.”

Rosa was thankful for the reassurance and nodded, going on to ask another question. “What does being a familiar mean for Terry, I know he got a few spells, but his attributes put him more in line with skirmisher or assassin style class of player rather than a spell caster.” She was happy to use the knowledge gained and wanted to learn more.

Mother Martin explained, “A familiar is mainly a good focus to enhance spell-casting and element control. Terry has some of that, but you are correct, he is more melee focused for fighting. What you can do is use your knowledge to assist. You will rank up alongside him, though you will only gain attributes of your own if you move beyond the title of familiar. You only have one attribute and it is more assigned then earned, if you understand. However that will be very useful for his first levels in ways that training and research can only just touch upon.”

“I know, I am very weak. I don’t want to be a burden to Terry, if he has to protect me when he is fighting, how can I really help him?” Rosa had enjoyed cooking with Terry in the random task level, but had to admit she did not feel fully comfortable being in a fighting level with Terry.

“I have had a couple of Player partners who used a variety of types of familiars and I have learned many ways of communication. For instance, did you know that this world has earth style walkie talkies? And that they work in the Level locker room and the Level area?” Mother Martin raised her eyebrows and the turtle smiled.

After a few hours Rosa returned to Terry’s room to wait for him to awake. She was excited to talk with him more and train with him. She felt confident, ready for her training and to instruct and help Terry moving forward in any way she could.

-

It was four days before Terry finally awoke to a very nervous, but excited Rosa. She had barely left his bedside over the intervening days and despite reassurances from the regular visitors Terry had, she was worried he would be out alot longer.

He had been cared for by Mother Martin and Selina primarily, Terry blushed hearing how the beautiful blonde had slowly fed him broth and monitored his condition. He was interested in truly meeting Mother Martin especially after he heard about her wanting to train him. It did not take long for that interest to be granted as his and Rosa’s conversation was cut short when the Mother and Selina came to join him in the room.

“Giles told me he heard excited chatter from this room. I am glad to see you are awake, how do you feel?” The madam of the house sat on the edge of his bed feeling his forehead like a caring mother. She was dressed in a light floral sundress covered in vines and plants that looked nothing like the ones on earth. It had short sleeves, but it did show that the older woman was in rather nice shape for her age with well defined arms and strong calf muscles.

Selina set a tray down on his table. It was not piled high, but there was a good bit of eggs and bacon along with juice and toast. It smelled wonderful and Terry was distracted, missing the question at first.

“Huh, oh I feel a little weak, but mostly alright.” he stammered looking back at her from the eggs.

“And hungry too I see.” Mother Martin smiled in a motherly way. “We can talk more after you eat up, go slowly or you have too much of a stomach ache for what comes next?” The smile was not so motherly at that turn of phrase, but it did not slow Terry who moved the tray to his lap and began to eat.

When Terry was done, he got up on wobbly legs. Before going to see Mother Martin and Selina, he paced around the room, shaking the numbness from his limbs as he moved. Rosa had informed him that she was wanting to train him and he was excited to begin. After some quick stretches he left his room to find a servant outside waiting to escort him to his new teachers.

He moved through the halls, Staring at the now sunlit art and decor in the halls. The sight looked even more beautiful and vibrant then it had days prior. It was like he could see with new enhanced vision. The colors and even the shadows were more pronounced with the seemingly alive light through the windows. He was led to the first floor on the west wing, down the hallway was a glass door leading to some sort of gym and training area.

Terry looked at the machines and free weights of all sizes like the room was a fully equipt membership gym. Mother Martin and Selina turned as he entered. Selina was wearing a tracksuit very much like the ones from the levels. They told him to dress in the men's locker room, through a door Mother Martin pointed to. As he returned the ladies were sitting and waiting for him on single person mats, he joined them and the training began.

“To my understanding these experiences were the first time you had ever fought, correct?” Mother Martin began

“That’s right.” Terry did not feel this was the time for bravado or lying.

She nodded, “I believe you did well enough to keep yourself alive, but you have a lot of areas to improve upon and even more to learn about. Did you notice the boosts from your Upgrades?”

“I did, I felt faster and jumped higher. The weapons felt familiar, even though I have rarely, if ever, handled that sort of thing before.” He explained hoping she could elaborate.

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Mother Martin continued nodding and went on to explain, “you gain extensive additions to your base stats. Stats refer to any sense, skill, or characteristic that your body and self naturally contain. Everyone has them and there are hundreds if not thousands. But the only ones that truly matter to you now are the ones affected by your Attribute Upgrades.”

Terry understood, “I have Determined, Wind, Dark, and Intuition.”

“A good mix” Mother Martin put in, “the Wind and Determined are closely related. They are why you were faster and more agile. You will want to train with them to get used to your new capabilities.”

“As for Dark, that is more set along your mind stats, so it can affect your sight, reaction, awareness. You will want to train that skill by meditating in dark areas and completing games or puzzles in low light and no light. It can take a lot of getting used to, but the abilities you will gain will give you a lot of options when it comes to working in a group or alone.”

“The fourth attribute is very different, which of the INs did it upgrade?” She asked.

Terry pulled up the notification from the days before he went to sleep and read it aloud to her, both her and Selina gave him questioning looks.

“An integrity upgrade is very rare, but not unheard of. That is a very useful attribute to gain abilities. You will probably develop more. As for that upgrade, I also have a Hot Bar '' as she spoke a syringe appeared as if from nowhere into her hand. She smiled and it apparently returned to her Hot Bar, disappearing.

“The inventory and Hot Bar are related, but different,” she instructed like a teacher, “the Hot Bar can place items directly in hand. The inventory needs a medium to interact with. It can just be a simple purse, bag or backpack. Once it is worn you can use it to interact with the pocket dimension you create. You can put items in the bag and remove them as needed. The convenience and use are obvious. But starting out you can only store a certain number of items. As you get stronger, complete levels, and rank up it will grow however”

Terry had one more question before they began, ”What is ranking up and how does that work?”

“You gained the Attributes, but that is only the beginning. Each title can be modified or changed at particular amounts of exp. At 100 exp you will be considered a true Rank 1 Player, then at 200 you're Rank 2. Once you get to 1000 you get to Rank 10, then at 2000 your Rank 20 and so on and so forth. I am Rank 95 for instance and have very different Attribute Titles than when I began at Rank 1.” Mother Martin explained things very well and Terry was impressed by her high rank

They started with lots of instruction. Both agreed he would start weight training another time, but they wanted to see id capabilities in stretching and concentration. What ensued was basically yoga class. Selina demonstrated the stances and Mother Martin fixed his posture as they moved from stance to stance.

After a few hours of this training, they broke for a quick meal. After that both Mother Martin and Selina would instruct him on the best types of strategy and uses for his ability. He learned what stats were affected like before, but Mother Martin broke each down further instructing him on every aspect of the stats range. They talked about future lessons, as well that first day, making plans for how to tackle types of enemies, levels and even work with different types of companions.

Selina was of course a healing bard with specializations in, what she called, precision weapons, “I trained heavily in fencing and shoot any small arms weapon.” she explained to him.

“Where does that knowledge come from?” Terry asked.

She nodded and continued, “for me it comes from my own Wind attribute. My Wind is from my Initiative attribute, so it is more in line for action rather than your’s which is from your Indominance or power attribute.”

“You know Indominance is not really a word right” Terry put in smartly.

“It really comes from Dominance, but a lot of the attributes the gods focused on had IN at the beginning, so people just added I-N to dominance.” she shrugged, moving on barely acknowledging his lame attempt at a joke.

“Players can have the same or similar titles, but depending on what attribute upgrades earned that title determines the stats and skills you gain from it. Make sense?” Terry understood that and was thankful for the explanation.

Selina Continued, “The basic stats that are most affected by your attributes become your main stats, or the areas that you will focus on when determining your style of fighting or dealing with a situation. Your HUD should have a new tab called Character Sheet where you can see this all listed and keep track of your progress.”

Terry brought up the tabs from his HUD and noticed the new one as she had mentioned. He brought it up to see:

Name

Terry

Rank

Lesser

Exp

70

HP

150

SP

300

MP

150

Associated attribute

Main Stats

Value

Value addition each level

Skills

Determined Wind

Dexterity

7

+7

OOT Stand HUD

Determined

Speed

3

+3

Rosa

Wind Intuition

Acrobatic

13

13

Call Shadows

Intuition

Awareness

10

+5

Call Wind

Dark

Nightvision

10

+5

Terry nodded with appreciation, seeing everything laid out in front of him like this was jarring, but useful. “So you only get this once your attributes are earned, do things change on this often?”

Mother Martin explained this one for him, “You can get something at every level, the values will increase and you will find new skills. You can also learn spells outside of the inherit skill based spell.”

“I did witness Morris use his spell, he just sorta called them out by name. I did feel something when he said them.” Terry questioned mostly to himself, but it was answered by Mother Martin.

She explained, “You speak it with a tone and focus on the demand. For his spells the idea is simple: Break, Forge. Spells for Selina and myself are based on will and intent, I have a spell Healing Element, there is an incantation for any type of wound one might receive and speaking these with the proper will and intent is pivotal in working the spell.”

Terry pondered for a moment then asked, “I have Call Wind and Call Shadow. What do these need to work”

Selina answered this time, “I have similar spells from my Wind for me it is a mix of command and will. First I picture what I need wind to do. It can be vague, but then the results will be too. You need a plan for it to follow. Then speak confidently, ‘Hear Me Winds Of Healing.” Her voice sounded different at the end, a stronger confidence and conviction.

There was a gentle breeze that tousled through Terry’s hair and played off his skin. He felt suddenly invigorated and he even saw the improvement in his Stamina and Health meters in his HUD.

HP: 275/250 HP

Stamina: 115/100 SP

“You overcharged my stamina and health, wow” Terry noted, understanding the use of such a potentant power. However being healed reminded him of something he had not initially thought of. “What happened with Sid and Tid? I have been learning too much to ask, but they are okay right?

Mother Martin and Selina looked at each other and Mother Marthin answered slowly. “I was able to heal the burn wounds for Tid, he is doing rather well, but he is not looking forward to any more battle levels. Sid is in worse shape. Hurk moved quickly to get him back to town, but the acid ate through his leg and they had to remove it. He is probably not going to be a player anymore.” Terry was silent at that, he hoped it made the twins less mean and aggressive, but he knew it was not good to say that outloud.

“I am sorry to hear, we can move on. That does not sound good. I am wondering what the Value section is on my sheet. The numbers seem a bit arbitrary” Terry had some head for social situations and could see the topic before was not something to dwell on.

Selina seemed happy to move on and answered the question, “That number is known more readily as Stat Point Value. We can go over it more in detail later on, but it will allow you to upgrade your gear and spells…” the lessons continued from there.

Over the next few days and into about a couple weeks Terry did not participate in any more levels himself, instead focusing on training with Mother Martin, Selina, and eventually even Morris and Hurk. They joined on the first day of his training, both had completed the random task levels twice without him earning some loot to sell and keep for themselves. They were going to do the Hoard level soon.

Terry had weapon sparring and training with Morris and Hurk gave him training in the gym in specialized dummy rooms for weapon training. Hurk was a serious bodybuilder and when they first trained together, Terry marveled at the capabilities of the small and stout goblin.

Selina worked with him at the end of each day, with instructions on spells and how best to deal with the situation he’d find in a level. It was like tactics, but it was more broad and less combat focused. Mother Martin oversaw all aspects of each of their training and stepped in on questions and during difficult lessons.

Terry became rather adept with his knives though training with the dummies and Morris, he could not again seem to connect with the master spirit within them however. It was like the knives would not respond even though it had during the fight and He did not know how to ask questions in this and so did not bring up the soulbound properties with his trainers.

The knives were very helpful with their abilities. He often fought with his combat gear, he gave Morris back the pick since he had his own weapons and wore them on his hips often. He spent several hours honing his skills throwing Flicker. The simple practice at throw and retrieve was almost meditative and was often an almost relaxing experience after a day of learning and training for his new life.