"What's wrong with practicing here?" Quinn asked with perfect innocence.
Even as he answered Lucas's question, Quinn didn't stop heading into the house Regan had run a child fighting pit out of. The same house Quinn had been forced to face down a skaven in, albeit one chained up. It was as if the younger boy had no lingering aversions to the place at all.
While Lucas stood there in the middle of the path, dumbfounded, Quinn disappeared inside. He had to hurry to catch up to him as the boy continued down into the cellar. The house was not quite the same as when Lucas last entered it, and that only became more apparent as they descended. Counterintuitively, it was now in better condition than before it was abandoned. Every wooden board was immaculately in place and secured, the floor hardly creaked as they walked, and there wasn't even a layer of dust upon the various surfaces. Rather than looking rundown, the house appeared completely un-lived in.
"Are you sure you're fine being here?" Lucas asked Quinn before they exited the stairway.
"I'm fine. Regan was scary, but she is gone now, and you killed the overgrown rat anyway," Quinn reasoned. "There's nothing wrong with being here, though let's not tell our parents..." He trailed off and looked back to Lucas, getting a nod in confirmation.
"It's not any more dangerous here than it is anywhere else in the village, so I don't think my mom would mind," Lucas said.
"Good," Quinn nodded to himself. "And here we are!"
They both stepped out of the stairway and fully into the cellar, and Lucas immediately noticed more changes. But before he could really take them all in, he was interrupted by one of the other two people that were waiting for the boys.
"Took you long enough! And you," an accusatory finger--attached to a certain young [Hunter] Lucas had last seen leaving th area around his tree hollow--was stabbed in his direction, "where have you been?"
"Shut up, Harry," Yenna commanded in clear annoyance. "Why are you being rude the moment he shows up?"
"'Cause he was sup..."
Lucas tuned out the rest and instead focussed on Quinn, who was watching his reaction to seeing their sudden companions. "So," Lucas strung out the word, "are we not going to train, then?"
"Oh, we are," the younger boy jumped to reassure him on it, "Yenna and Harry are just going to join as well."
"Both of them?" Harry would make sense because Lucas had promised to help him sometime already, even if he hadn't expected that time to be right now. But Yenna was just an [Apprentice] craftswoman, last time Lucas had seen her. Just to be sure, he used [Identify] on her one more time.
[Apprentice]
[*ding [Identify] has reached level 14!]
Yep, no changes.
"Just because I'm not a combat Class, doesn't mean I can't be here," Yenna cut in. Her argument with Harry had wound down at faster than he'd expected it to, and she apparently caught Lucas's last question. She glared at him in challenge, waiting for him to try to deny her.
Lucas didn't bother and immediately held his palms up in surrender. "You're right. I just don't know what you'll be doing if not training," he explained.
"I'll be training too, for when I get my second Class."
"Ah, ok," Lucas shrugged.
That made a lot more sense than just sitting around and watching the rest of them, as he sort of assumed it would happen. Now that he thought about it, if that was her plan, she might make a good sparring partner for Quinn. Yenna would inevitably have the stat advantage, and she was also a fair bit older and bigger than him, but Quinn had been training to fight far longer than she had. That experience might narrow the gap.
Yenna held her stare for a minute longer, as if she expected Lucas to offer up more resistance than that. Maybe Harry had done so whenever this group planned this. Either way, she accepted Lucas's surrender and her gaze softened soon enough.
The four of them all fell quiet, no one quite sure where to take it from there, and each person waiting for another to take the initiative. Taking advantage of the brief lull, Lucas got a good look around the cellar. Or, well, as good a look as the flickering lantern someone had brought would allow. Still, it was enough to see the huge change the place had gone through. The pit where Lucas killed his first monster was just gone. Someone--likely Elder Falon, since he was the strongest earth [Mage] the village had--had eliminated all traces or it. It was a change so glaring, and more than a little impressive, that he couldn't look away for a time, and only eventually did when he realized his distraction was letting the silence stretch uncomfortably.
Lucas turned to Quinn and refocussed. "Sorry--still a little confused. You all just gathered together and planned this?" He gestured around the cellar. "I didn't think you'd want to even talk to Harry."
Quinn shrugged. "We don't mind, and when he found Yenna and me, he said you promised to help him."
"He did," Harry was quick to reassure, then he nodded to Lucas, "tell them."
Lucas scratched the back of his head. "Well, yeah. I guess I just wasn't expecting you to go through these two to make it happen."
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"You're the one that disappeared for two weeks," Harry countered.
"That's fair," Lucas shrugged again. There was a lot of shrugging going on right now, the atmosphere a little awkward. He decided to change that. "Ok, let's stop wasting time, then. I'll partner with Harry, Quinn partners with Yenna, and we'll start with some warmup exercises."
"Awesome! Let's go," Yenna jumped to follow his directions and join Quinn's side.
"I thought we were going to go through my Skills?" Harry complained, nonetheless joining Lucas's side anyway.
"Well, your goal is to be strong, right? That's about more than just your Skills," Lucas said. He started going through his usual stretches and the other three followed suit. "You and I can go through your Skills after, and talk about what you want to do with them."
Harry didn't immediately respond and Lucas looked over to see him staring into the middle distance, considering Lucas's words. After a few stretches, he seemed to come to some conclusion and nodded to himself bearing a look of determination. "Ok, I'll follow your lead."
Lucas smiled, knowing that, as the [Hunter] was several years older than the rest of them, he was probably swallowing a fair amount of pride at the moment. "Thank you. Now, just copy what Quinn and I do. We've been taking lessons on this for a long time."
----------------------------------------
"And they haven't checked in since?" Yenna asked before she threw another punch Quinn's way.
The four of them had started practicing everything Quinn and Lucas knew of unarmed combat after warming up, and had been going at it for a couple hours already. Yenna took to the lessons with enthusiasm, but her form clearly still had much room to grow and Quinn had no issue ducking out of the way.
"It hasn't been that long," Lucas explained, though his focus did not waver from his own opponent. Yenna and Quinn were unexperienced and un-Classed, respectively, but Harry wasn't exactly either of those. As a [Hunter] that had specialized in setting traps up to this point, he definitely wasn't the best fighter, but as he'd explained, all [Hunter]s tended to have at least some capability. If only as a minimum requirement for regularly venturing beyond the village's walls on they own.
"That's still not good," Yenna continued.
"You don't think they were all caught in another ambush, do you?" Harry asked with clear incredulity. "The Commander went with that hunting party. A few goblins aren't going to do a thing to them."
In their moment of distraction, as both Harry and Yenna got too wrapped up in the conversation, both Lucas and Quinn sprung forward to strike. Harry managed to react in time and spring away from Lucas, but Yenna received a solid rap to her side for the moment of inattention.
"Ow! What the heck?" She stared at Quinn accusingly.
Quinn looked instantly panicked. "Sorry! Do you need healing? Lucas, come here," he turned fully in Lucas's direction.
Yenna dropped that act as soon as he looked away and took advantage of the opportunity, swinging her leg out and landing a kick to Quinn's center of mass. The boy flew back a few feet and rolled completely over, coming to a rest face-down on the floor.
"Ugghh..." he was slow to get up.
Lucas chuckled lightly and held his hand up to Harry to signal a break, before walking over to Yenna's latest casualty. The girl may not be rich in experience, but as an [Apprentice] to a [Smith] and [Craftsman], she had physical stats for days.
"Sorry to tell you, Quinn, but I think you're the only one that's going to need healing today," he told the boy with mock seriousness. As Quinn slowly picked himself up, Lucas crouched down and rested a hand on his shoulder, pulsing [Arclight Renewal] through his entire body without focussing its scope. He wasn't really using that much mana in all this, and Quinn could likely use a full-refresher after that tumble.
"I didn't get him too badly, did I?" Yenna came up behind Lucas and looked over him.
"No, no," Quinn groaned and waved her off. "I'm fine, don't worry. I shouldn't have lost focus."
"Are you sure?"
Quinn just nodded in response and brushed himself off. Lucas looked him over one last time before returning to his side of the cellar, satisfied the boy was in good enough shape.
"Anyway," Quinn started as he got back into the proper stance, ready for whatever Yenna would throw at him, "Harry's right--they will all be fine. Might even be back already."
"Maybe," Yenna conceded, though a bit of worry did not leave her expression.
"There really--" Lucas paused and traded a few blows with Harry. "There really isn't anything to worry about. The guards just weren't taking the goblin sightings seriously before, and got caught unprepared because of it. After a full patrol got hurt, though, that's no longer the case. They probably took all the highest leveled guards out there to deal with it."
"Some of the older [Hunter]s went out there, too," Harry added.
"You're right," Yenna stepped back and threw her arms up a little in surrender, "nothing to worry about. Let's take a break for a minute, I want to look through my status."
Quinn nodded and sat down to relax. Though they could have kept going, Harry and Lucas chose to join them in the break as well. Lucas sat beside Quinn and let his notifications roll through.
[*ding [Rapid Regeneration] has reached level 26!]
[*ding [Overcharge] has reached level 16!]
[*ding [Reflexes] has reached level 2-6!]
[*ding You have received the General Skill [Teaching]!]
Not bad. Could be better, but not bad. I don't think I'm taking that one for my last slot, though.
"Hey! My [Basic Combat Training] leveled six times!" Yenna smiled and told all of them.
"So has mine," Harry added a bit quieter, but from the look on his face, no less satisfied.
"Do you all want to keep going, or be done for now?" Lucas asked. "Quinn and I are supposed to have lunch with my mom, and Eugene's sister, but you two can probably come as well if you want."
"[Healer] Mary wouldn't mind?" Yenna looked to Lucas inquisitively.
"Probably not," he answered, "and I can help Belinda cook, too."
"You should come," Quinn nodded.
Yenna waited a moment, then smiled. "Ok, let's do it!"
"I'll go, too," Harry added. "We still need to talk about the rest of my Skills, anyway."
Lucas shrugged, not too concerned about it. He had already given Harry some advice on his General Skills, leading to the [Hunter] switching one of them out for [Basic Combat Training], but he still wanted Lucas to go over his Class Skills as well. Lucas honestly didn't know how he could help with all that, but he would give it a go, if only because Harry was so insistent.
"Alright, then let's go."
He picked himself up off the ground and stretched. Quinn led the way back up the stairs and out of the house, into the bright and chilly air. The four of them stood just beyond the doorway for a moment as they adjusted to the difference in lighting, the lanterns they'd been forced to use to see in the cellar having given off much less.
"Hey!"
All four of them turned and squinted to see an older woman walking toward them, a basket in her arms. She marched there way, upset for some reason.
"What were you kids doing in there?"
Quinn, Lucas, Harry and Yenna all looked between each other for an excuse, but no one said anything.
"Are you going to explain yourselves, or what?" The woman closed in on them, and her voice started to draw the attention of other people nearby.
Lucas looked at her, and finally spoke up. "Run."
All four of them took off down the path leading to the village center, the woman's yelling fading away behind them.