They continued in silence for a few moments, before Cam managed to shake himself from the rabbit hole Ted had sent him down.
‘My apologies, my friend.’ he said, looking over at Ted. ‘I try not to think back to those days too often. But you are right, in that there are many different ways to learn skills, and not all of them are expected. My Foresight was rare enough that others didn’t know what to do with it or how to use it; even now I’m not sure I do. I hope that no one tries to go through the same torture of mental and time magic attacks in order to gain it.’
‘Based on what people were like back on Earth.’ Ted said. ‘I wouldn’t count on it.’
‘No.’ Cam said, after a second. ‘Me neither. But, in any case.
‘There are Common Skills, Rare Skills, and lots in between. Common Skills can be picked up by most people, though some you may find harder than others, and some you may just never be able to master. I have never been able to gain any musical Skill, for example, despite many attempts to learn some instruments here. But you’ll find that basic movement Skills, like Agile Manoeuvres and Stealthy Manoeuvres are common, as are basic weapon mastery Skills. The Techniques within them vary in rarity and effectiveness, and the speed at which you can improve them depends on innate ability and how you’re training. So while you can pick up Skills here much more quickly than you could on Earth, becoming good at them, relatively speaking, still requires hard work. Even to gain a Level 1 in some Skills is an achievement; and I don’t mean the musical ones here. As a GateKeeper I know that you have an affinity with Time Magic and Spatial Magic; those are not easy Skills to get.’
‘But don’t I need to get all of the Skills to level up my Class? And increasing my attributes?’ Ted asked.
‘Yes; to improve your Class level you need all of the requisite Skills that your Class needs. For some Classes this is very easy; for some, like yours, this will be much more difficult. However, there are benefits to this; the bonuses to your attributes will be greater for levelling up your Class because of the difficulties around it.’ Cam confirmed.
‘Okay.’ Ted said. ‘I think I understand. So a simpler Class, like a basic warrior Class, will be easier to level up, but they won’t get that much stronger with each Class level? But with a more complicated or difficult one, I’ll be slower, but the jumps in attributes should make up for it?’
‘Exactly.’ Cam said. ‘In fact, the rarer or more specialised Classes tend to overtake the simpler ones eventually.’
‘And can I change Class? Or get a better one?’ Ted asked.
‘You cannot, as far as I know.’ said Cam. ‘Or, I’ve not known anyone that has.’
‘There’s no upgrading? GateKeeper can’t become, I don’t know. ArchGuardian or something?’ Ted prodded.
Cam shook his head. ‘Not that I’m aware of. But there’s always more to this world than you expect, so I wouldn’t rule it out.’
‘It seems like no one is entirely sure of anything here.’ Ted said.
‘The world is full of mysteries, my friend.’ Cam agreed. ‘Praise the Lord.’
‘Yeah…’ Ted said, uncomfortably. ‘So what happens when I level up Skills and Techniques?’
‘They get better, stronger. They will likely unlock new powers or capabilities at landmark levels; the first tends to be Level 10, so most would have gained them before leaving Basic.’ Cam said.
‘Feel free to keep on pointing out my failings.’ Ted said. ‘I think one or two of us may have been in the high single digits.’
‘I’m not criticising you.’ Cam said. ‘I am just concerned about the training that new recruits are going through.’
‘I’m definitely feeling the concern.’ Ted said. ‘But I think you’ve caught me up on everything you learned in those extra five months.’
Cam laughed. ‘I think so.’ he agreed. ‘Though maybe there are a few things missing. I suspect about half a dozen Skills, Techniques, and ten levels in all of them?’
‘That might take a little longer to sort.’ Ted laughed.
‘It will. We’ll stop in an hour or two; there’s a small caravanserai ahead. We can get started.’
-
A few hours later they pulled up at the lodge that Cam had told him about; a large, wooden structure that extended far back off the road, and two storeys high. Cam explained that land here was free, and construction like this was a simple thing for those with the right Skills. They left Jenny in the stable, after unhitching the wagon, leaving a stable boy to look after the horses.
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‘Children?’ Ted said, disbelieving. ‘There are children here too?’
‘Of course.’ Cam said, surprised at Ted’s reaction. ‘People settle down, get married, start families. What did you expect?’
‘I didn’t expect anything. I had no plans for an afterlife. Everything is a surprise.’ Ted said. ‘But I thought everyone would be on a war footing. I didn’t expect cosy inns and kids.’
‘People still need homes.’ Cam said. ‘And lives and loved ones to come back to. There’s more to war than just the fighting.’
They dropped their things in a room, Cam continuing his training of Ted as he instructed him on how to pay with Centrals, and how the innkeeper was unlikely to accept his Authority Requisition Points. The innkeeper did consider the ARPs for a moment, but firmly told Ted that he’d take Centrals if they were available. He was able to send over 5 Centrals by hovering his hand over the innkeepers and focusing on doing so.
‘Is that a lot of money?’ he asked Cam as they went upstairs to their rooms. ‘I only had 100 to start off with. But I’ve got no frame of reference.’
‘It’s not the cheapest, but it’s far from the most expensive. We’ll do a pricing primer when we get to Brookfields tomorrow. For now, loosen up, take fifteen minutes to yourself, and then head down. We’ve got training to do.’ Cam replied.
Ted did as ordered, and shortly headed downstairs to the large open plan dining and drinking area of the inn, filled with tables and chairs, and a large roaring fireplace, but no people at all. Failing to see Cam anywhere, Ted went back out of the front door.
The caravanserai was set just off the road, with a small cobbled area the length of the building in front of the door, in order to reassure people that the place was civilised. Cam was laying out a small assault course from the looks of things, with a huge assortment of junk that Ted assumed must have come from the back of the wagon. This included a dozen hoops, string, the infamous spear from the Burner Stag incident, a staff, a shield, a set of large boxes that looked like it might fit in an Earth gym, and some more esoteric items that Ted couldn’t begin to guess at, in the shapes of spheres and cubes. Cam looked up as Ted arrived.
‘I was going to say that I expect you did something similar to this during your training.’ he said with a teasing expression. ‘But it’ll be safer if I don’t. Are you ready?’
Ted shrugged. ‘Sure.’
‘Good. Let’s get started.’
The course Cam had set up consisted of a number of obstacles and movements that would either test Ted’s control of the Techniques and Skills he had, or try to force him to learn them. It started with the hoops, which Cam expected him to Dash or Drift to, changing direction rapidly as he zigzagged between each one. Then he’d have to scoop up the staff on the floor, and spar with Cam until either of them scored a hit. This was followed by a series of jumping exercises, up and over and onto the boxes, combined with Break-Falls. Then another sparring session, this time with the spear, and then some work with magic.
‘You’ve already got the Basic Magic Skill, but I’m guessing you’ve not explored much with it.’ Cam said.
‘I have Light Level 10.’ Ted said proudly, using the opportunity to spend a little mana on creating three balls of light.
‘That’s what I thought.’ Cam said, nodding. ‘So with these three items I’ll want you to try and focus with your Basic Magic Skill to try and understand what they are. Then I want you to counter them. Once you’ve done one, come back for shield practice, then back and forth until you’ve unlocked them all. Then we’ll work on developing them further. This will also be an exercise in mana control and usage, as all of these will require you to use your magic to a certain extent.’
‘This all sounds very ambitious.’ Ted said, unconfidently.
‘You’ll be fine, my friend. I believe in you.’ Cam said cheerfully.
With that, Ted started on the assault course, quickly activating Dash to swiftly move between the hoops. This was the Technique he was most comfortable with, having used it many times even just in the last day. However he quickly found that while he could move quickly, his accuracy and ability to change direction were not as good as he’d thought, and he kept having to drop the Technique to steady and realign himself. By the time he’d managed to fall into some kind of rhythm, he hit the last hoop, and jumped out of it.
The moment he did, Cam stepped forward with an overhead swing from a staff. Ted managed to leap aside, falling into the floor and failing to activate his Break-fall in time. His innate ability allowed him to get away with a small scrape, but not the reactive, swift recovery that the Technique normally allowed.
Still, he managed to move quickly, grabbing at his own staff on the floor as he scrambled up. Cam was coming at him with another attack, this time a lateral swing from the left, and Ted managed to get his hands in place in order to block the attack, forcefully pushing his own staff against Cam’s as it swung in order to counter the momentum.
As he did so, he felt the sudden click in his mind that had occurred when he’d first picked up and tried to use the spear, two weeks ago in Basic. It was an inspired moment, like knowledge and strength flooding through him, and suddenly the long stick in his hands became a powerful weapon for him to use.
Cam’s staff was rebounding from the powered block that Ted had defended it with; Ted followed it, stepping towards and around Cam and then hefting the staff up until he was holding it like an extended club, then bringing it down hard on the back of Cam’s legs for a crippling blow.
In response, Cam neatly backflipped over the strike, leaving Ted off balance as he brought his staff down Ted’s back. Tried cried out in pain.
‘What the hell was that? You can backflip? How are you so good with a staff?’ he asked furiously.
‘That was a backflip.’ Cam replied, not even out of breath.’Yes I can backflip. My Staff Mastery Skill is Level 20. Congratulations on achieving the Skill. Ready for the next station?’
Ted glared at him, and moved on.