Chapter 113

K'tharkle - Day 39, Friday

Jay woke to the sound of hammering on his door. Groggily he got up and for a minute wasn't sure where he was until he had wiped the sleep out of his eyes and stood up a little straighter. K'tharkle. He was back in K'tharkle.

Jay got up and stumbled over and opened the door to find a grinning Aiden waiting for him just outside.

“C'mon in. I need to get dressed.” Jay mumbled as he let Aiden in and then stumbled back to his room for his armor and clothing. “How was your date last night?” Jay asked, his voice sounding muffled as he put a shirt on in the adjoining room.

Aiden wiggled his eyebrows. “Amazing. Aisha is a lot of fun. We had a great time!”

“Where'd you take her?” Jay asked as he reappeared in the room in his leather armor complete with staff.

“She took me to a place in the crafter's district. It was a table full of food and you picked your own and put it on your plate as you passed it! It was amazing!”

“A buffet?” Jay asked with a smile.

“Ya! That's it! So much food.” Aiden said as if savoring the memory.

“You sound more excited about the food than Aisha.” Jay joked as they left his room and the door clicked shut behind them.

The sun was low and had barely crested the horizon when the boys began to walk to breakfast.

“Well the food was very exciting.” Aiden said a little embarrassed but while still grinning.

“Uh huh,” Jay replied noncommittally.

As they approached the dining hall Jay saw that M'redith and Norri were already in line. M'redith was wearing her thick leather armor, it was a stronger version of the armor Jay wore, and Jay thought it fit her rather well. Leather armor wasn't usually the most attractive outfit a person could choose to wear, but M'redith's armor had been designed with her body in mind and she looked great in it.

Norri stood next to her practically vibrating with energy and excitement. Norri was always a bit more excitable than the rest of them it seemed.

Jay and Aiden waved to their friends who waved back happily but stayed in line. They'd meet up at the breakfast table.

Breakfast was buttermilk pancakes. Jay got his with blueberries. Aiden got his with chocolate chips. Sides of sliced fruits and deliciously cooked shredded hash brown potatoes that had been lightly salted made their way on to their trays. The pancakes were light and fluffy and one could tell that they had used a bit of vanilla extract in the batter from the delicious aroma.

The hash browns were a mix of crispy and soft and the salted starch went great with the pancakes. The sweet fruit cup was a nice counterpoint to the rest of the meal.

They finally got their food and sat at the table where M'redith and Norri were already eating. The group was still enjoying the availability of good food and ate mostly in silence. About halfway through M'redith couldn't take it anymore and began to tease out details of Aiden's date from the night before.

“So she took you to a new food place?” M'redith said after Aiden had explained things a little.

Aiden nodded, “She knows what I like.” he said without thinking before blushing lightly.

M'redith laughed. “She does now, does she?”

Even Norri was smiling at Aiden.

They ate quickly not because they were in a rush, the food just tasted really good.

“So what's the plan for today? Or are we all just going to interrogate me about my date all day?” Aiden finally asked.

Jay was smiling but finally answered him. “We have class. At least it is Friday. After that I need to visit Boland and drop off some coin as well as ask about my projects. After that who knows? Maybe we can visit Redgrass tonight? That'd be fun. We had a good time last time we went.”

The others all nodded, that seemed like a great idea. “Oh, if you really want to you're always welcome to bring Aisha.” Jay said after a moment.

Aiden shrugged, “I don't think we're there yet, but thanks. I'll keep that in mind.”

After they had finished eating Jay got up and took everyone's trays up to the counter.

“How'd your night go?” Aiden asked as he turned to face M'redith.

She grinned happily and Norri grinned reflexively when she did so. “I had a great time. We just sat and Jay used his aura on anyone who would agree to it. Oh!” she suddenly said as if remembering something.

Norri looked over at her quizzically.

“Guess who hunted us down while we were sitting at a closed off bathing house? Brother Orin!”

“Wait,” Norri interjected, “Isn't that the guy we ran a dungeon for? The church guy?”

Aiden laughed, “The head monk, right? Kagan's Dome!” Aiden finally said a little too loud as he was quite excited to have remembered it.

M'redith nodded, “That's the one. Anyway he said Kagan's Dome is too busy now but that he had found a possible solution.”

“Us?” asked Aiden.

M'redith nodded again. “Us. He wants us to do a dungeon run but was a bit cagey about the rest. He still hasn't even asked Walter if we can have the class time off to do it. We are still students so it isn't like we can just wander off on our own. So we'll be hearing from him again sometime soon I expect.”

Norri shrugged, “Good. We had a lot of fun that run. Isn't doing dungeon runs the whole point of joining the Guild? I'm all for doing more, even for the church guy.”

“Church guy,” mumbled M'redith teasingly just as Jay returned to the table.

“Ready to go?” he asked the group who all had stopped talking as soon as Jay had returned.

“Yup!” said an excited Norri who hopped down from her chair before anyone else had a chance to move.

Everyone stood up and the group went outside. A few students waved to Jay as he went by, especially the ones he had helped to clean off the night before.

“You know all of these people you're waving to?” M'redith finally asked after the fifth person had approached Jay to say good morning.

“Sort of? I mean you were there too last night. It's not like everyone gave me their names.” Jay said offhandedly.

Finally they made it outside and they craned their necks back a bit just to soak up more sun on their faces.

“I heard that if you stand out in the sun for a minute or two it helps you wake up,” Norri said from off to Jay's left. Her eyes were closed with her head tilted back and faced towards the bright sun.

Aiden looked over at her, “Does it work?”

Norri shrugged, “I don't know. It feels nice though.”

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M'redith laughed and the group continued walking.

They made it to class with only a moment to spare. They'd taken a little too long to enjoy breakfast and then the sunlight.

“Ok everyone file in, come on, lots of room and lots of people. Don't just stand in the doorway, MOVE!” T'lly was yelling at various students who had done one thing or another to draw her attention.

Finally the class had quieted down a little bit and Warren took over. “Today we are going to run speed drills. You will be paired up at first and then move on to groups later in the day. Your task is to defeat your opponent using the least amount of time possible.”

T'lly's eyes lit up, “Speed fighting!”

The class didn't groan only because they still weren't sure what they were being asked to do. They hadn't been timed on their combat performances in the past. Today would be new for all of the students.

T'lly split people off in to pairs as she walked around the room to make sure no one was with a friend. She stopped numerous times to shuffle people and partners about before she turned and gave Warren a thumbs up.

Jay had obediently worn his helmet that day. It looked a lot like the head-wear a wrestler would wear during a match. It was made out of firm leather with a lot of padding and looked a little goofy compared to not wearing one at all. A lot of students tended to not wear their helmets just because most of them felt they looked strange with them on.

Jay had gotten over his reluctance to wear a helmet after his last head injury. So he was one of the only students wearing his helmet when the fights started. The helmet was hot and made his head sweat.

“Ready? FIGHT!” yelled Warren and the battles commenced.

Jay found himself up against a warrior and knew right away that things weren't going to go well. Helmet or no helmet he was in trouble. If it were a real fight he would just use some of his Starburst Pouch sand to break contact. Jay wasn't built to fight one on one, he needed his group mates around him for protection.

Jay took repeated blows from the warrior's sword and was quickly knocked off of his legs and given a ringing blow to the head that was easily handled by his armored headpiece. It was enough to knock him off his feet and the warrior delivered a follow up blow that stopped just under Jay's chin.

“I'd say that's a win for you wouldn't you?” Jay asked a bit breathlessly as his eyes darted to the blade held inches away from his throat.

The warrior laughed and gave Jay a hand to help him up. Most of the other matches were still going but they ended quickly afterwards for the most part with only a handful of students really fighting it out for any length of time.

“Good! Move one spot to your left then repeat the exercise. Ready? FIGHT!” yelled Warren once again.

This time Jay was up against a man wearing chainmail that covered his body almost entirely except for one spot. His head. The new opponent hadn't put on his head protection as he felt he was skilled enough to not need it.

Jay did not have a knack of combat. Some people held a staff and could just feel the potential there, they could understand how the staff would move during combat, and where it would leave them vulnerable. Jay didn't have anything like that – to him it was mostly just a stick, no matter how much training he received. His gifts lay in treasure finding, not combat.

What Jay did have however was luck. Things just seemed to go Jay's way for the most part on Eden. If something was left up to chance then there was good odds that it would end up in Jay's favor somehow. Even though Jay frequently got trounced in fights he was extraordinarily lucky which helped explain his 'skill' for defensive staff work.

There was no skill. There was just Jay being lucky and moving the right way at the right time completely by accident.

As the chain armored opponent drew closer Jay tried a few offensive moves in an attempt to at least get a couple of strikes in.

The chain mail took the blows as if they hadn't even happened.

On the other hand, the sword strikes from the man were quite painful when they landed. The leather armor protected him but the force of the blow was only dampened, not removed entirely. Jay's body was hammered with blows.

That's when it happened. Jay found himself out of position. Only one of his legs was on the ground, a big no-no that left him precariously balanced on one leg. He was off balance and the man in chain mail knew it.

He came for Jay with a quick swing and Jay moved his body so it just barely missed him. As he did so his arms went back and his staff whipped out and Jay was struck for a moment at how his staff was perfectly lined up with the chain armor man's face – which was not covered by chain armor. This had happened before to Jay, more than once actually.

Jay didn't hesitate but struck out with all his might using the only hand still holding the staff.

As Jay's balance fouled he fell to the ground, one arm out to help break his fall, the other holding the staff as it sped towards his opponent's face.

It wasn't a crushing blow, but it was hard enough to draw blood as it scored a gouging wound along the man's forehead.

It was a shallow wound – it would have to be unless it fractured the skull, which it did not do. Instead the forehead skin over the man's skull was split open by the force of the blow causing blood to gush down the man's face.

The man in chainmail, now blind, whipped his sword about but Jay was on the ground having fallen and the sword met only air. As the man swung Jay waited until he was facing away from Jay and he popped up to his feet. Winding up Jay delivered a strike with his staff that dropped the man to his knees.

“Forfeit!” the man groaned and Jay used his arm strength to forcefully nudge the blow off center as it descended so that it swished past the man's head instead of impacting it. The strike landed on the floor with a sharp crack and Jay took a step back to catch his breath.

“Goddess, everyone said that the Adventurer class couldn't fight!” the chain mail wearing man complained as a healer from the training staff approached and healed the wound. The healer used a bandage to help wipe away the blood that had been left behind.

“They can't! That was just me being extraordinarily lucky!” Jay insisted with a smile.

The man shook Jay's hand with a smile but the two were split up by T'lly calling out at everyone to take a step to the left and prepare for another fight.

The fights continued and Jay took the time in between fights to look about in search of his group mates. M'redith was laying waste to those set to fight her with occasional losses. For the most part students seemed upset when paired with her.

Aiden was doing well for the most part. That meant that he was giving as good as he took, winning about half of his fights.

Norri however was the opposite. Unless a person had exceptional strength or speed there was just no beating her for the most part. The only hope of beating her in combat lay in overwhelming her with power or speed. A few students with applicable Class Abilities managed to beat her but she was mostly undefeated. Her staff work was sublime. Jay may not have a knack for staff fighting but Norri had a gift.

By the time class was done the students were exhausted. Working through moves they had been taught was one thing – fighting as fast as one could to defeat their opponent was another thing entirely.

“Hold up when you finish your fight. Once done head over to the back table for water!” T'lly yelled over the sounds of combat.

Warren had been going from person to person and helping them address any shortcomings in their combat methods. Some students were more open to constructive criticism than others but Warren always offered his comments in as non-judgmental a manner as possible.

“Good news bad news time.” Warren said with a smile.

Some of the students groaned reflexively even though they didn't know what Warren had to say.

T'lly laughed, “Stop being babies and let him talk!”

Warren smiled, “Good news is we're ending early so you can go eat. Today is pizza so the dining hall will be visited by more than just students. You'll need the extra time just to get through the line, trust me.”

Everyone seemed pretty excited to have pizza for lunch and Aiden was smiling like an idiot he looked so happy.

“Bad news time. Yes, I'm as thrilled about it as you are, trust me. The bath house will require one more day than anticipated for repairs as maintenance turned up an unanticipated issue.” Warren said sadly. “So for those of you who really need it there are plenty of pay bath houses in the city. If you're crafty enough there are other ways to get clean as well,” he finished with a quick glance at Jay who smiled in return.

Jay didn't want to clean everyone but a few people here and there were acceptable. Besides, it was a great way to make friends. When you found someone that could clean you and your worn armor and clothing in 30 seconds without even getting wet or having to take clothing off you did everything you could to stay on good terms with them.

“That's it! Get out! OUT! Everyone out! Go eat! Go bathe! Go away!” T'lly yelled after Warren went quiet.

Warren laughed, “Ok, class dismissed. We'll see some of you this afternoon for Dungeon Room. For those interested we'll be going over stack clearing and maybe a few other dungeon mechanics. Fun times. Now go eat!” Warren finished happily and with a grin.

Jay and his friends didn't wait but rushed for the exit before the rest of the class got moving. They met up outside and grouped up to walk to the dining hall.

The sun was almost directly overhead when they left the training hall and the air was filled with the scent of plants and flowers along with other less savory ones. It was warm out and Jay would have been happier in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

One of the things adventure stories tend to leave out is how hot armor is to wear on a warm day. If it weren't for Jay's frequent use of his cleaning aura he would constantly be sweating through his armor. Given the choice between knowing combat skills and knowing his Tropical Island Aura Jay was pretty sure that he would pick the aura every time.

Jay switched his aura on and M'redith let out a squeak next to him before gently pushing his shoulder.

“TELL a girl before you do that!” she said with a smile.