Logan and Ahren stumbled to their feet after a draining confrontation, the latter having to use his unique skills to unblock Logan’s meridians so the Spellthief could move properly. The pair patted themselves down with Logan using his Clean mick to make them look like they hadn’t even had a scuffle that day.

“Hope this taught you what you wanted to learn”, Ahren said with a smile, the wrinkles across his face slowly forming back, but not enough to show him as a 77-year-old.

Logan coughed, “Partway. It reminds me of fighting bosses in dungeons, such varied techniques to face off against. Though I fear other PCs will throw even more alien skills my way. I have to learn to adapt and overcome them even more.”

“There’s only so many PCs you can train against like this. Hopefully, the little experience you did gain is enough to prepare for what’s ahead, lad.”

“That’s the most I can do.”

Logan did a quick round of Teleport spells to place Ahren back at his apothecary and then returned to the VIP guild house. Retrieving the spheres from the wall, Logan saw they were halfway depleted, it was good that they could be reused later. Taking off the sign from the door of the training halls, Logan was treated to the expectant sight of Alice’s team.

“Did you win?” Alice beamed as she looked over the seemingly unhurt guildmaster.

“It’s Logan, of course he did. Right?” Jayd added as he nodded at Logan.

“Why was it private?” Varuud asked inquisitively.

“Even I could read that notice”, Sooryah added proudly, his ability to read coming along nicely with some of the others.

Logan waved his hands to calm the youths down, “Yes, I won. Thank you all for heeding the warning on the door.”

“Well, it’s not a written law, but we should listen to others in the guild when we’re asked to do something”, Alice explained with pride.

“Suck-up”, Jayd teased and was met with a playful punch in the armoured arm.

Logan smiled, “Since you all waited so patiently I guess we can go on our outing right away.”

“Yes, sir!” the quartet responded loudly.

----------------------------------------

The young members of Alice’s team and Logan found themselves deep within the forests near Gauntlet. It was close enough to the capital that they could overhear other travelling adventurers going towards quest areas or merely exploring for things to do outside the capital’s walls.

“Today we’re doing skill assessment. Use the training gear provided and try your best to hit me. Call out all your skills uses, even if you’re able to use them silently”, Logan instructed with two wooden daggers in reverse grip.

Alice was the first to start, “Rush!” she shouted, cracking the ground slightly as she charged toward Logan. “Power Strike”, she followed up, coating her sword in a red mist before swinging downward at the Spellthief.

Logan dropped a dagger, stepped forward into Alice’s guard, grappled her wrist and used her momentum to flip her and send her flying against a tree, bashing her back into it, and causing countless leaves to fall.

“Rush, Rush”, Jayd chanted, charging at Logan and then diverting to the side, “Rush, Combo Slash”, he added, charging back toward Logan’s side with a red glow over his mace.

Logan twirled the other dagger in hand and parried Jayd and caught his other dagger from the air, throwing it toward Varuud who had his crossbow bolt deflected mid-air.

“Dash, Backstab”, Sooryah commanded as he darted at Logan’s rear to land a sneaky attack. Sadly he was the most at a disadvantage calling out his skills, as Backstab never needed one to begin with.

Logan smirked as he ignited his body in fire, Silentcasting Flame Cloak. Sooryah’s eyes went wide as the flames attempted to lick his hands. The Rogue’s feet dug so deep into the mud that you could mistake it for tilling the soil. Kicking away, Sooryah avoided singeing himself.

“Plan T-A!” Alice commanded loudly as she jumped from on high.

“Power Strike”, Alice and Jayd chanted in unison with Sooryah chanting, “Ten-Point Barrage”, followed quickly by Varuud incanting, “Empower my allies, Enhanced Arms.”

The trio’s weapons took on a grey aura, similar to Enhance, while also being wreathed in red mists. The combo attack was sure to devastate many foes of their rank and one or two higher.

Logan mentally commanded the Haste spell and began to retaliate. First, he slammed Alice’s wrist with his dagger, causing her attack to shift to the side. Logan then kicked at Jayd’s knee, faltering his stride. Lastly, Logan flipped over Sooryah, grabbing the man’s face, and dragging him into the air before slamming the back of his head into the ground.

Alice landed clumsily but re-aimed her sword upward, making a diagonally swerve as she cut the ground and prized to strike Logan. Jayd stumbled a bit too, bumped into Alice’s side and pushed off her to readjust the pair together, swinging his mace at Logan’s other side.

The Spellthief quickly drew another dagger and blocked both strikes with his back to the teens, his arms contracting a bit from the force of the blows. “Jayd has already mastered Power Strike!?” Logan thought to himself.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“Shroud of Shadow”, Sooryah chanted, his whole body getting coated in darkness before disappearing.

Logan attempted to deflect both Alice and Jayd but the pair kept him still with another call of, “Combo Slash”, putting more energy through their weapons. Scanning ahead of him, Logan opened his vaskt eyes to spot the early-learning stages of invisibility, noticing the grass parting. With a solid upward kick, Logan hit Sooryah away as their body reappeared.

“Flame Shot”, Logan chanted, destroying his wooden daggers with orbs of fire that shot through the other wooden weapons and hit the two Fighter’s chests, sending them flying backwards. Their bodies quickly being enveloped in yellow lights from their Devout.

Logan stood tall as he called out, “That’s the end.”

The trio of melee combatants collapsed on the floor, panting heavily, while Varuud ran between them to confirm he didn’t need to dish out more healing spells and skills.

Alice slammed a fist on the floor with a defeated look on her face, “How can we possibly land a hit on you like that!”

Jayd let out a long sigh, “Hey, we got close with your plan. Don’t doubt yourself, leader!”

“I thought for sure I was going to get you. Those eyes are like… cheating”, Sooryah complained as he rubbed his head, “This feels familiar”, he said under his breath.

“Stay still, I can’t heal you if you’re moving around like that”, Varuud commanded.

“Now, now. You lot did amazingly. Your cooperation has improved a lot”, Logan started before looking at Alice, “Your leadership is getting better. Did you think of that plan just for me?”

Alice shook her head, “No. I came up with it a few quests ago. We needed to deal with monsters faster, and more efficiently so that Varuud could save his spellforce for healing. We were getting hit too much and relying on him healing us each fight.”

“It was good. You took the advantage of numbers wonderfully. If I was slower and cared more about my weapons you would have hit me. How many other plans and tactics do you have?”

Alice stood tall as she picked up the remains of her wooden sword, “We got six we use often.”

“I suppose my thirty is pushing it then”, Logan thought to himself. “Just make sure to not experience fatigue too quickly. This kind of action is going to leave you open if there’s more than one fight incoming.”

“Yeah”, Alice accepted, “like that first time”, she continued under her breath.

“Any pointers for me?” Varuud asked as he jogged up to Logan.

Logan thought for a second, “You’re not really a combatant. Your skills and spells are more suited to enhancing and healing the team. You’re conserving it a bit more now, which is good. My only advice is to spend a bit more time practising with the crossbow, you need to be faster and more accurate.”

“But I got tonnes of tomes to read.”

Logan pointed to his head, “You need to keep all parts sharp. You’re not at a rank or gear quality to be flinging spells willy-nilly. Second-level spells will open up a whole new avenue for power.”

“C’mon, we’ll get him in a few more ranks, guys”, Jayd encouraged as he joined the cluster now around Logan.

“That’s right. You lot will take me down as a quartet someday. But for now, we have some other drills to go through.”

“Right!” the team responded.

----------------------------------------

The rest of the day was spent with training skills, learning new battle tactics, and experimenting with combinations. Logan used Call to War again to help their experience growth as well as adding to their wealth due to the number of components and weapons to sell off.

As the whole group returned to the VIP guild house, most of them collapsed on the sofas, asking for food. Logan put in the orders while he conversed with Garentaeous, the vampire Logan had faced in the tournament.

“There’s been more frequent attacks on blood drives. It’s been… annoying”, Garentaeous informed with disdain in his blue eyes.

“Again? Is it the AV Club?” Logan asked.

The Anti-Vampire Club had been quiet ever since Logan’s attack on their groups previously, ending in the conflict between the Spellthief and Quayvan.

“Hard to say. Many of the people I’ve apprehended have anti-truth curses in place. Their heads explode before the information is given.”

“That again…”

“It’s a bit different, but still hard to overcome nonetheless”, Garentaeous continued as he ran a hand through his short black hair.

“Do you need any help?”

Garentaeous shook his head, licking a drop of blood from the corner of his lips, “It’s a vampire issue. My coven has been contracted to deal with it, we’ll ask the hunters if we need assistance.”

“Do you need to take a leave from the guild?”

“No. Covens and guilds can coincide without issue. Thanks for the consideration though”, Garentaeous replied with a kind smile, “With some of the more recent events, it’s better to keep this insular. Don’t want you getting accused again, right?” he ended with a laugh.

Logan sighed, “That’s meant to be a secret.”

“Sorry”, Garentaeous offered half-sincerely, “But some of the covens got riled up with that whole business. I don’t know all the details myself, but I can accept you were innocent. Nothing since then has given me any concern except that you’d almost ‘too’ standup.”

“Mind if I ask what coven you do belong to?”

“Levwin. Our sire was a devout follower of Levin and that stuck with the coven centuries after his passing.”

“So, you’re Garentaeous Levwin?”

“I didn’t take on the coven name for my own.”

“Gotcha, just Garentaeous then.”

“They know I am also a member of Vip. There’s no issue there. Everyone I’ve spoken to is on your side, even if some of them are worried I am letting a caster lead me. I would have thought one of your calibre would dissuade such thoughts, but, they are quite old. Old habits die slow and not often.”

Logan shrugged, “It’s fine. Most people stopped the stigmatising of me as I got a higher rank. It’s mostly all gone now. It’s the newcomers I’m afraid for.”

Garentaeous looked at the guildies who were enjoying their meals and drinks, “Caster blood has a certain sweetness to it”, he mentioned under his breath.

Logan raised an eyebrow but let the thought pass.

----------------------------------------

The guildies all went to sleep eventually, Logan did however notice that Jayd was missing from those heading upstairs. While getting ready for sleep he continued to notice no sounds were made up the staircase. With midnight passing by, Logan looked over the guild house.

Only the light of the moon lit up the halls, long shadows stretched over the wooden floors, claw-like silhouettes painted on the walls as if monsters were trying to creep behind protections they otherwise could not penetrate.

“Guildmaster Logan?”

Alice had crept up behind Logan, a solemn look across her face as if the horrors of the night weren’t horrific enough. She fidgeted with the leather straps of her nightgown, her normal, confident demeanour had been replaced with one that was anxious and worried.

“Yes, Alice?” Logan asked as he turned to face the woman.

“C—”, she began, hesitantly, “Can you speak to Jayd for me?”

He already knew something was up, but the request made it seem worse than it was. It was enough to grant Logan his own look of concern. Confidently, and mostly comfortingly, Logan replied, “Of course. I meant to already. I’m all for late-night training but at this hour I would be worried about his sleeping patterns”, Logan ended with a joking tone.

“Thanks. I—I don’t think it’s really something I can talk to him about.”

Logan nodded and patted Alice on her shoulder, nodding again as she looked up at him.

--- *** ---