My head spun. That’s what the doctor was researching? Our bodies? Did he want us to be successful? I mean, he had to, right? Otherwise, there wouldn’t be all the training. He’d just lock us up in cages and dissect us from the get go.

“Yo Mike! There you are, man. You’re needed in Instructor Nills office.” Brendan, one of the guys in second squad, yelled at me from down the stairs.

“Yeah, thanks.” I yelled back and started down. I needed more information.

Getting to Instructor Nills office, I knocked on the frame. He looked up from some paperwork and motioned me in. “Please, close the door and take a seat.”

This was a really comfortable room. A small fire burned merrily and rugs padded the floor. The wall behind him on either side of the window was lined with shelves holding leather-bound books. His desk was finely made and everything on it was neat and organized. The well upholstered chair creaked alarmingly as I sat in it. The thing wasn’t created with dwarven mass in mind.

“Okay, we’re going to go over your performance in the last dungeon.” He got a flat wooden rectangle with black crystal covering its top. The human held up a green crystal, still in its natural long, sharp shape. “This is your dungeon disk. You’ll need to carry it to all the instructors you see today or tomorrow. It holds the image of your performance in the dungeon.”

Now that’s interesting. Nills put it in a hole in the wooden rectangle. The instructor closed his eyes and a few moments later, a 3D illusion of me in the cavern appeared over what I now recognized as a magical tablet.

“That’s pretty cool.” I grinned, putting my hands on the desk.

“Yes, it is.” He scooted it slightly away from me. “Its also priceless. There’s only a single artificer in the kingdom capable of creating them. There are currently five. Each of the instructors has one, and we had to give one to the queen. So don’t touch.” I withdrew my hands with a frown.

“Let me review this for just a moment.” Instructor Nills watched an illusion of me going through the cavern. He watched it at pretty fast motion, slowing it down before the fights.

“Okay, I’m here to analyze your use of the Fortune priority in combat.” Nills told me.

“I don’t exactly know what that is.” I responded.

“That’s somewhat obvious by watching your performance.” He gestured to the tablet. “I’ll start with definitions. Fortune deals with social position, luck, money and equipment. You clearly have little of them.”

I flexed my jaw muscles. His dismissiveness was getting old really fast. “I have priority zero in Fortune.”

The instructor waved away my comment. “Yes, but you aren’t using what you have. You need a mirror for looking around corners. Maybe you can’t afford one from the Character Creation Store but you can make one. You’re a dwarf, so I presume you are a smith of some kind?”

“Huh? No. I did get a crafting bonus but I took alchemy.” I answered.

“Are you using it?” His eyebrows raised.

“I haven’t had a chance.” I shrugged. “Any time I’m not in training, I’m either in independent study or working in the kitchen.”

“What do you think independent study is for if not using your crafting?” He cocked his head to the side.

That got me to pause for a moment. “I’ll be honest. It never crossed my mind.” I flailed around for a response. “Where would I even go to do it?” I asked, kind of at a loss.

“If I’m not mistaken, Doctor Mingelt is our alchemy teacher. I’ll arrange for some time with him.” Nills told me.

Time in the lab? With the doctor? Maybe I’ll be able to figure out a few answers that way. Outstanding!

“So get with one of the other dwarves. If you can’t afford a mirror, trade them some minor alchemy for a shined up piece of metal. It doesn’t have to be perfect.” I nodded. That was good advice.

“Okay, I like what you’re doing using your spells to draw the opponent towards you. Have you considered caltrops?” He asked.

“Caltrops?” I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“They’re little spiky things made from three nails. Each end is sharpened and it’s made so that any way it falls one of the spikes points straight up. They’re useful for breaking a charge. You scatter them on the ground and whomever is running towards you will step on them. Drives the spike up into their foot.” Nills said matter-of-factly.

“Okay, now when you start on alchemy, you won’t be able to do much in the way of recipes because your fortune is so low. Hmm.” He steepled his fingers in front of him as he thought. “Minor caustics are probably your best bet. Splash weapons could also help offset your low Agility.”

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“Why won’t I be able to learn good recipes?” I asked the instructor.

“It’s an interesting feature of Zeroth level character creation. You can’t exceed your fortune. I mean, I could give you all the gear in the world and you’d lose it or something would happen to make it nonfunctional.” Nills shrugged.

“What? That’s crazy. No way I’d lose it if I got good gear.” I shook my head in protest.

“Oh, really?” He asked with a half smile. The instructor ran the video until it showed me finding that dagger. “This looks like a well-made piece of equipment. Where is it?”

“Uh…” Come to think of it, that dagger hadn’t crossed my mind since I woke up. “It was in my belt loop.” I looked and the loop was empty. I checked my bandolier. The knives were there, but no triangular dagger. I patted where my pockets would be if I were wearing jeans.

“Can’t find it, can you?” Nills smiled at that. “Its one of the mysteries we had to learn during class one. It’ll turn up once you get to first level. As a spellcaster, your fortune level also determines what spells you have access to. So it is important.”

“So now,” He leaned forward on his desk. “What’s your plan regarding fortune?”

“Mirror, start doing alchemy, get caltrops.” I repeated.

Instructor Nills clapped. “Very good. Now be off with you. The next trainee awaits!” He handed me the green crystal and sent me out of his office. “Take this and go see Instructor Goldo when he’s available. He’s in the next room.”

I went out into the hall and who do I see but Hera the Gold Dwarf talking to the other gold dwarf. I have to get his name. “Hey guys, how’s it going?”

Hera gave me a nod. The other gold dwarf said, “Mike, I’m glad to see you!” and gave me a fist bump. That made it awkward.

“Dude, I have to confess. I don’t know your name.” I told him, eyes downcast.

“You suck man.” He showed me that quartz filled smile. “It’s me El Tar, from the guild.”

“Ah, everyone has different faces and we don’t get tags floating over our heads.” I told him. “Its great to see you. Are you going for a melee damage dealer build again?”

“Oh, you know it.” He gave an enthusiastic nod. “I’ve only got one priority point into combat, but hopefully the analysis the instructors are giving us will help.”

Hera grinned, “He’s just come out of Nills office, so I bet he’s wanting to trade.”

“Am I so transparent?” I shrugged. “Have you guys gotten to use your crafting skills yet?”

They both said no. El Tar chimed in, “Nills said he’d make time for us. The smithy is right there at the edge of the parade ground. What’s your craft?”

“Alchemy.” I told them.

“Oooo, good trade value there. I’m a weaponsmith.” El Tar said, pointing a sausage thick thumb at his chest.

“Armorer here.” Hera told us.

“Ah-ha, my first trade target identifies herself!” I told them, pointing at the sky like an old-fashioned vaudeville villain. “How tough would it be for you to get a flat piece of metal about the size of my hand and shine it up real good so I could use it for a mirror?”

“Your hair looks fine dude. Why do you need a mirror?” Hera asked.

“All personal hygiene needs aside, I’ve been having a tough time coming around corners. Nills advised me to get one so I could see.” I said.

“Oh, that’s clever.” Hera told us, stroking her hair. To be clear, female dwarves don’t have facial hair. I thought they did when I first saw Hera, but she wears her hair braided and the braids are tied over her lower nose. Strands come down from the braids covering her face like a veil. I thought it was weird at first, but it’s growing on me. So when I say she’s stroking her hair, I mean the hair covering her face.

“So a flat plate of metal, highly polished.” She was staring off into the distance. “Yeah, once I get access to a smithy, I can do that.” Shrugging, she said, “I may as well make four. I wonder what Bron crafts?”

I smacked my forehead with the heel of my palm. “Of course the bronze dwarf is Bron. He always wanted to play a trap maker in caves. That’s the perfect race for the build he always talked about.”

“You really don’t know anyone’s names, do you?” El Tar asked.

“Dude, my head has been so turned around since we got here.” I shook the aforementioned head. “I’ve got the names of my squad down pretty well, but other than that, just a handful of people. It’s weird. I think everyone that came over is from our old guild.” The two nodded. “That means I know everyone. I just haven’t put the faces with the names.”

“I haven’t identified everyone. I won’t lie.” El Tar told us. “I’ve probably figured out thirty of us. It seems like everyone who was online during that last raid got grabbed.”

“Yeah, Goldo got me. Who got y’all?” I asked.

“Nills actually rang my doorbell. He was pretty polite about it, all things considered.” Hera told us.

“Stethyr snatched me.” El Tar grimaced. “He was anything but gentle. I tell you guys, it scared the hell out of me when a six and a half foot tall cobra man showed up in my dorm room. I was so terrified I couldn’t even scream.”

“Suddenly, a dwarf popping up in my home office doesn’t seem so bad.” I put a consoling hand on El Tar’s shoulder.

“What am I making for the team?” El Tar asked. Hera and I looked at each other.

“Maybe knives actually balanced for throwing?” I shrugged.

“I can do that. I bet Bron gets the most use out of them.” The gold dwarf said.

“Dude, my agility is so low if I fell out of a boat, I’d miss the water. I’ve got to get that up before any throwing stuff is any good to me.” I ran my hand through my wire hair with a faint rattle.

“Who you telling?” Hera pursed her lips. “There are big advantages to playing a dwarf, but during this zeroth level part we essentially have no ranged capability. It sucks.”

“Y’all are going to laugh when you hear this. So I have this snowball spell, right? It’s a ranged touch attack.” I told them. They both winced when they heard ranged touch knowing that uses agility. “So I’m bowling the spell instead of throwing it.” I did the motion of bowling. Both laughed.

“Hey, I bet I can make bowling balls.” El Tar said excitedly. “That’s low skill. It can be just about any metal and doesn’t have to be pretty. We might could use them as a ranged trip.”

“Nice! I look forward to seeing it.” Hera turned to me. “Now, what about you?” She poked me in the chest.

“No idea. I don’t know any recipes yet.” I shrugged. “Nills suggested a mild caustic. Something with a splash area of effect that might could blind an enemy.” The gold dwarves nodded.

“Mike! Get in here.” Instructor Goldo called from his office.