The staged sleep was finished faster than I felt comfortable with. There was no ne need to change position. Maybe Unicode was scheming that no one would ever want to leave the house again. Would work for me.

Back in Karma and the hammock I left my avatar in, I felt like a filthy crackhead. Without paying attention to the blood on my clothes and the dust from the mining my smell and look was probably enough to scare away monsters. At least my health bar was completely filled again.

I walked out of the tent and looked around for the others. The sun was just up and I was ready for my next round of mining 101.

With nobody in sight I was looking for something resembling a washing facility, the luxury of a shower would be more than welcome.

“Hey CB, tumbling around early?” Christa just walked out of the tent with the makeshift forge. She looked spotless. I had to ask for her secret.

“Good morning Christa. You look good today.” To late, I realized the problem with my greeting after the words were out of my mouth.

“Why thank you! Oh, look who is in a flirty mood again.” Christa put a hand on her cheek.

“Right. I meant your clothes and skin look immaculate despite yesterday. How are you doing that?” I dug my grave even deeper, didn’t I?

“So much flattery for old me, hehe.” Now she was pretending to be cute. I didn’t work on me.

“Christa, serious. I look like a mud diver, your clothes look brand new and you like freshly scrubbed. Where can I wash all the dirty clothes and myself?” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s just a spell.”

“That’s more than nice. Do you think I can learn this one, too?” Instant cleaning sounded like a great invention.

“Well…” She scratched her neck.

“Maybe. The spell combines two elements. Independently it would be considered basic and only slightly harder than “Light”. In combination we are facing intermediate level. That is almost impossible without instruction of a full-fledged mage.”

“Doesn’t seem like an option now. I’m still struggling with the first spell.” I was disappointed.

“Poor baby!” She pointed her hand in my direction and I was engulfed in twirling colors.

After about 5 seconds the light show was over. I looked down on me and was pleasantly surprised. That was a spell I had to learn, no matter what!

“Clean, as can be.”

“Thank you Christa. I feel much better now. What’s the plan for today, besides me sweating in the mine for some time?”

“Breakfast, Mine, Town… Something like this. It’s hard to think on empty stomach…”

There was a lot of cold meat left from yesterday and somehow Christa brought fresh bread as well. Together with some milk, which suspiciously tasted nothing like whole milk from my fridge, it was more than enough.

***

The mining itself was uneventful. I only needed two breaks this time, a decent improvement. Christa showed me more effective ways to hold my pickaxe and to get a better leverage while breaking walls. Two mighty swings with her pick were on a totally different level compared to my meager efforts. She almost broke the same amount out of the wall as I, only without taking one and half hours. I had a long way to go.

During the time in the mine Christa wasn’t helping me with the darkness. Sparks marked my work. After the first break I was able to hold onto a weak light and still could swing the pickaxe. The side effect of using magic beside the use of mana from my body, it was draining my stamina, too. It still was a great accomplishment. I felt proud and gained the skills Light and Nature Magic. I thought that “Light” would be more of a fire element. Didn’t really matter, the spell was handy either way.

What others often would call menial labor had one big plus: Time flew by! Christa did her clean spell thingy again and back at the camp Jess and Less were expecting us. I got a headbutt as greeting and her raspy tongue to wake me up from my concussion. To be liked by a Minker bird is tough.

It was a totally uneventful day so far; Jess did not count. That made me cautious and a bit paranoid.  On the ride back was also nothing to see. The main difference was the amount of people near the city. There were lots of players now running around. I got my share of envious glances and shouts. Someone on a mount wasn’t a common sight, yet.

“Back again in good old Kalesh.” Christa grabbed the reins of Less and Jess.

“I will be back tomorrow morning.”

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“Hope so, CB. Jess will be ready. She’ll find you when you’re not coming. Haha.” With Jess everything seemed possible.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Before you leave CB... Pay Erestran a visit. Tell him I sent you. He is an instructor for high-level practitioners, mostly because he cannot or maybe will not hold back. Erestran owes me a few favors and shouldn’t have many customers right now anyway.”

“I can do that, even though it sounds somehow fishy. Him not holding back means, he’s going to shred me to pieces every minute?”

“To call it a walk in a park would be a blatant lie. But you will learn more from him in a week than from others in a month. Combat is not about fun, but survival.”

“It’s quite generous to use a favor for me.” There seemed to be an ulterior motive.

“Yeah sure, I have to protect you, my investment. The new employee dying in the first week is bad for my business and reputation.” She told me that with a straight face.

“Got it. Like you, too.” I was a bit miffed, but Christa just grinned back at me.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow!”

I headed back into town. Without loot to sell or money at hand there was nothing new to buy for me. But farming mobs was a thing I really loathed in the old MMORPG’s. That was hardly fun.

On my stroll thru the alleys I ate one of my sandwiches and decided to pay the instructor a visit. Just a look should be enough for today, because it was early Monday morning in real life.

The map function was great. Did I mention that? Christa’s words were enough for pinpoint accuracy. Erestran was located in the big training hall on the fifth floor.

***

“Good day, sir.” I always wanted to play it save with the NPC’s.

“Yes?” He stopped swinging his sword around.

“Are you by chance master Erestran?” Sometimes even I didn’t know why my tongue was that sugar coated.

“So what if I’m him?” He turned away and concentrated again on his sword stance.

“If you are Erestran und not some imposter, I like to talk to you.” This guy was pissing me of.

“You are talking to me for a minute now and wasting me time. Just state your business or get lost.” What an asshat.

“I guess Christa was totally wrong to send me to you. The little respect you gained 20 years ago was obviously some fluke.” I was ready to leave and almost out of the door.

A sword flew into the wall, missing my nose by a hair’s breadth. My eyes got huge.

“Thanks for the gift dipshit!”

I was pulling the posh looking blade out of the wall and was running for my life. Flying down the stairs there was no plan in my head. The streets, crowded by now, should provide some cover. My skin prickled and I could feel killing intent, for the first time in my life.

‘Think! Think! Think!’ There was no place to hide, no opening to the sewers.

My feet didn’t touch the ground anymore. He got me by my neck, holding me in the air with only one arm.

“Help…. Chchrr… lp!” I struggled with my voice. “…molester!”

He didn’t usher a word and just carried me back into the building, the way my mom used to with my worn socks in high school. So, no one came to my rescue and I lost my faith in Kalesh citizen’s moral standards.

This guy wasn’t even breathing hard when we were back on the 5th floor. I still dangled from his arm like an oversized ragdoll. Overpowered NPC’s were just everywhere.

“Sword.” He stretched his other arm out and was waiting for me to hand it over. The man had no real patience. His hand was squeezing tighter around my throat. My health bar shrank.

“…grgl…” This meant: Take it, please.

Sword in hand we walked – well, only he was using his feet – to the training area. He dropped me into the sand.

“Christa sent you, little thief?” He was staring.

“You threw it at me. Finders, keepers!”

“Did Christa sent you, or not?”

“She did. But I don’t care. Who wants some asshole trainer?” I struggled a bit to get up and tried to leave, again.

“I accept!” He stood in my way.

“Hah? Are you deaf man? I’m leaving.” I tried to pass him, but he blogged me again.

“No, you will stay and I will train you. A debt is binding for me.”

I was at a total loss for words. What was wrong with his head? There had to be a way to get rid of this mad dog.

Not to calmly think it through could be a mistake. I ran for now and logged out.