Following Whisper and the captain to the gate Ambros was still in awe at the sheer size of the fortification. It is one thing to see a massive skyscraper soaring into the sky. It is a great feat of engineering. There is something humbling about standing before such a massive wall. You almost start feeling insignificant.

He could see enormous bastions along the wall to the north and the south of the gate.

Hearing shouting behind him, he finally understood why so many guards were outside the gate. A group of around twenty people came running at an incredible speed. Almost as fast as a car on the highway.

Each one spread out and headed to a group of five guards. One of the guards pulled out a glowing white orb, and the runner put its hand on it. He was too far away to hear the conversation but could see the guard's mouth moving. In under a minute, they seemed done, and the runner was waved towards the gate.

The entire group was processed in a minute after they reached the guards.

After a few more steps, he heard shouting again and looked back to see another slightly smaller group running towards the gate to go through the same process.

Captain Marcus commented. “Seemes that the night parties are coming in earlier than expected. Wonder what that is about.” Another party was passing them by as he finished talking.

When they got close to one of the free soldiers, Captain Marcus said, “Sergeant. This man needs processing. Take care of it quickly. Scout Whisper, get yourself processed, and remember, I want a written report on my desk before sundown. You may consider that your punishment for a late return. Judgment has been passed.” The soldiers around us said, “Witnessed.”

One of the soldiers, his face weathered and hard. It was the face of someone who only had known war and would spit in the face of the devil when he came dancing. The sort of man you buy a beer and leave alone unless he starts talking. Said, “Spit on Stefan. He's a boil on the guards' ass. Chydos take him and his useless suckups.”

The Captain whirled around. “Sergeant! Are my ears faulty, or did I hear you disrespect a superior officer of the guard and his… friends?”

“Just clearing my throat, captain,” With a nod, Captain Marcus said, “Glad to hear it. Now, stop moping about. Get it done!”

In no time, both Ambros and Whisper were presented with glowing white orbs. When Ambros put his hand on it, he recognized the spell. It was a lesser variant of the spell Aunty Daphny had used on him during his rebellious years. The orb would somehow inform them if the target spoke anything but the truth as far as the target was aware. The spell was harmless, so he just let it happen.

The soldier said,” Do you swear that you are not, nor do you plan on harming the Free City of Lemadis or any of its residence, territories, or anything under its protection.”

Ambros simply said, “I swear.” They waited a moment, but nothing happened with the orb. The soldier grunted in satisfaction before continuing. “Do you swear to assist the Free City of Lemadis rift settlement you are about to enter if you are called to do so in the event of an attack on the city?”

Another “I swear.” That was it. The soldier nodded and told him to put his weapons away and keep them away unless sparring, fighting in the arena, or during a sanctioned duel.

“And here you are.” The soldier gave him a chit with the picture of a bastion and the number six written on it. “If there is an attack on the walls, you are to report to the commander of the Bastion six as soon as possible but no longer than one bell after the sign of an attack is given. The bell will ring three times three if there is an attack. You are now free to enter the settlement.” That went a lot easier than Ambros thought it would. He thanked the soldier and the captain before catching up to Whisper. She had been waiting inside the massive arch of the gate.

They walked in silence while Ambros counted five different gates with portcullis going through and enough murder holes to please the most psychotic defensive engineer. They were passed by more than one group of adventurers during the short walk.

“That was fast. I had expected more paperwork,” Ambros said as they cleared the gate and entered the settlement.

“It is connected to the mark they gave you, Ambros. If you leave it somewhere on the street, they will know. If you tear it apart, they will know. It is you when you are in the outer ring, so keep it close. It is much more work gaining entrance to the inner ring.”

The city was uniform. From what he could see. Mortar walls, and he could see a hint of red from the roof buildings further down the street to the right. The only clear line one would have if getting past the wall would be a circle following the blocks of buildings three or four stories tall. The buildings even had walkways on top going from roof to roof and no windows on the first two floors. He could imagine the toll it would take on an invader taking this street to street.

Whisper smiled at him and said, “Welcome to the rift settlement, mine and a bit more than a hundred thousand other's current home.” A hundred thousand? He could see it if the housing blocks went around like they seemed to in a circle, layer on layer.

On the corner of a building, he saw a green sign painted with a white arrow pointing north with the writing “Bastion 1, 15-19” on it.

Whisper saw him looking and explained, “Any time you are at a crossing, each corner will have a sign pointing you to the shortest route to reach your bastion. What bastion were you assigned?”

“Number six,” Ambros answered.

“So the one south of the east gate, you will want to stay in the north or south district then. Come, let me show you.” She said. Walking up to the opposite side of the intersection, she pointed at a sign saying, “Bastion 6-14” “Just keep going in the direction of the six, and you will be fine.”

Ambros gave her a long look. “For some reason, you and the soldier are making it sound like when and not if there is an attack.”

“Depending on how long you stay, you probably will join in one. Mostly, they are not much more trouble than you standing there looking at attackers getting hit with arrows from the wall until they run out of attackers. I would not worry too much about it. Just be sure to show up, or they will throw you out.”

Whisper was tapping her foot and seemed to be thinking about something, so Ambros figured she could very well do that while he was eating something. “Come on, Take us to some food. My treat. I need to sell all the loot and find out what I want to do with my time here anyway, and I'm not doing it on an empty stomach.”

“South district it is. It is where the merchants and artisans stay. They also have some incredible restaurants.”

So they went, meandering down the winding streets of this fortress masquerading as a city. Passing so many diverse groups of people, Anton couldn't help but be a bit amazed. He saw dwarfs talking with orcs, elves singing together with humans, what he thought was a half-ogre playing some sort of board game with a beastman, and so many mixtures of species he was sure normally would be killing each other. It was a bit surreal, but he did find it interesting.

It made him wonder how the city on the other side of the rift looked. It was a hot spot for interspecies study, and he would acquire writing material as soon as possible after food. Priorities are important.

All the while, Whisper was talking about her time there, the people she had come to know. She was surprisingly chipper, almost like she had taken off some weights when entering the city.

Lunch consisted of smoked fish that tasted like herring but with a name he couldn't hope to pronounce, together with rye bread and juice. It cost a total of three copper for both of them. It wasn't bad, not great, but definitely not bad.

“Alright, I need to sell off the loot, get to a system node, possibly sign up at the adventurers guild, and find someplace to call home for what may be a while. You okay to help me today, Whisper?”

Ambros was starting to realize he was very much out of his depth, it was like trying to figure out taxes when you suddenly got done in school, and no one had told you anything about it. He needed to get his head in the game. Stop being an idiot and take as much as he could from the time he had here, even if that meant jumping through some hoops for the locals, for now at least.

“Yes, of course, I will help you. The first is easily done. We should be able to load off everything on just this block. The Adventurers Guild has several nodes. If you sign up, they will take care of that for free. As to a home, I suggest waiting until tomorrow. Will need to go to the office of the Tabularium. It is not far from the Adventurers Guild, but it can take some time.” With that, they had a plan.

He let Whisper do the haggling since he didn't know the worth of anything but a meal for two with juice yet, but he was learning fast.

The weapons were sold for a total of thirty-six silver and nine copper. The shop had originally offered to take the entire load for twenty-five silver.

The clothes went for a whopping eight silver and fifty copper. Again the shop had offered far less in the beginning. Ambros was starting to see a pattern here.

The miscellanies items, including the novels, went for an incredible three gold, two silver, and seventy-five copper. It made no sense to him until Whisper explained recreation items were rare since they had no priority during rift transfers.

Potions, pills, salves, and arrays were the majority of the money came from. Whisper sold them at the price suggested by the shopkeeper. When he asked her about that, she said those items were considered vital to the war effort and under heavy regulation. Everything they sold would be tallied up and sent to the archives.

She also mentioned that they would have needed to pay taxes for the sales in the overworld, but it was waived in the rift.

Ambros asked why that didn't count for weapons and learned that it did if the weapon had a C rank or above. Weapons from D rank or below were considered weapons in use for those that were still in training, and the government considered it pointless to have any restrictions on them.

From the last sale, he made a total of seventy-nine gold. The shopkeeper had rounded it up from seventy-eight gold and ninety copper at his own expense. He knew he was making good money.

Ambros finally tallied up the sales at eighty-eight gold, forty-six silver, and a hundred and thirty-four copper. He tried giving some to Whisper, but she refused in a way that told him to shut up about it. He was actually fine with that. Money has a power all of its own.

He did remember to buy a new dimensional bag, this time in the shape of a silver neck chain with a flat green gem. It cost him four more gold after trading in the four dimensional bags he had for it, and that was with Wisper bargaining it down from twenty more gold.

Apparently, it was a high-quality dimensional bag that was enchanted to keep things at temperature, which was amazing in itself, but the reason he had to have it was he could see part of the enchantment on the gem. Ambros would gladly have paid the twenty extra gold to get that. He didn't tell the last part to Whisper. She was having too much fun arguing or haggling, from what he could see.

The dimensional bag bonded to him as they left for the Adventurer guild, with Ambros having a hundred and eighteen gold, a hundred and twenty-two silver, and three hundred and seventy-two copper. It was more than a respectable amount for someone that had yet to enter the first circle.

They walked and chatted about how life in the settlement was, except for the constant threat of a horde that could come knocking and that all foodstuff and natural recourses things were surprisingly normal. Just a very high percentage were active combatants or adventurers.

He didn't see many children. The few he did see were either dressed in finery or tatters. It made for a stark contrast, but he could understand why regular families choose to stay outside the rift.

Whisper explained that the well-dressed children were, as he guessed, the children of noble families sent to teach them the hardships of the rift. They didn't look to have it very hard, and he doubted any of them had less than four guards hovering around them on top of a large party of servants. When two or three of them walked together, it looked like a small army on the move.

The children dressed in rags more than likely came from slaves, prostitutes, or the parents had been killed during a wall breach, and there was no one to take them in. They would make it on the streets until they were fourteen. After that, they were conscripted into the garrison. He learned a surprising amount of the garrison came from this, why the soldiers treated them extra well. Seeing a soldier bring a bag of food and clothes to a group of children wasn't unusual. Ambros thought it was a moronic system but held his tongue.

The closer to the inner circle they came, in the meandering manner they had to take between housing blocks, the more decorated the buildings looked. Whisper said a breach seldom reached this far into the city, so the buildings close to the inner wall were traded at a premium. Some even had enclosed gardens. She said that statement as if pigs could fly.

When he finally saw the inner wall, he was amazed again. It was clearly made differently, as Whisper said it was made by these imperials thousands of years ago. Walls reaching towards the sky in what looked like white marble, the sun reflecting off its surface.

White spires reaching towards the sky could be seen behind the wall, the tops capped in some sort of reflective red material. A single spire stood out just by its massive size and reach with a great crystal mounted on the top instead of a roof. It looked magical to Ambros, for lack of a better word.

Finally reaching the north side of the city, they came to a stop in front of a building the size of a city block. People constantly stream in and out of its double-wide doors. A sign depicting a mug of beer with foam and a stiletto hung above the entrance. That looked promising. Ambros found himself grinning. This was an adventure, after all.

To his disappointment, no one was drinking or singing when they entered the building. It was just people walking quickly or standing in line. It looked like any administration office he had ever seen. Well-lit, bright interior, marble floor, and unoccupied fancy-looking couches and plush chairs set around tables along the walls. Everything looked like it had been taken right out of a Swiss bank interior catalog.

The window that said registration and queries was luckily empty. When he thought about it, new adventures probably didn't start their career inside a rift very often.

The Orc sitting inside looking bored and disgruntled. He had a name tag that said, Mathew.

When he noticed them, his face lit up, though. It was such a stark contrast, not to speak of a tusky smile, that Ambros almost took a step back despite himself. Reaching out a hand to the ork for a handshake, he said. “Good afternoon Mathew. My name is Ambros. I would like to know if you could help me register as an adventurer and answer a few questions I have?”

Mathew shook his hand vigorously before doing the same to Whisper before he answered Ambros. “Yes, good Ambros, that is part of my services. Fresh meat, eh. I like it. You miss, you need registration too?”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Whisper shook her head and said, “My apologies, Mathew, I am already part of the garrison.”

He gave her a sad look, but quickly enough was all smiles again. “Ah, well. Still gets me down to four more with you, eh, Ambros?”

Ambros had to ask. “Four more?”

Mathew nodded as he was rummaging through papers on his desk “Yeah, it's my punishment. I have to register ten new applicants. You are number six. One step closer to freedom,” He said with a grin.

“Ten new registrations can't be that difficult, can it?” Ambros asked.

Mathew looked at him from the side of his eye while holding a pamphlet he had started reading and said, “Normally, I would agree with you, but it's been over three years now. People don't come to the guild here for registration. They come because they think they are good enough to survive the Unending City. They have honed themselves in the overworld and seek a fast way to gain more power. Foolish but courageous.”

Going by his earlier observation, Ambros could understand that it fit, but more than three years and only six new adventurers during that time, including him. That was depressing.

He couldn't have stopped himself even if Whisper was waving red flags in front of his face. “If you don't mind me asking, why were you punished?”

“Not at all, Ambros, not at all. I grabbed the breasts of the last Guildmaster's wife.” Marcus said in such a matter-of-fact tone that Ambros and Whisper almost asked if they had heard right.

However, Mathew continued before either of them could come up with any follow-up questions. “In my defense, I thought I was leaning against a wall. I was dead drunk and needed to piss. That woman is flat as a board. I didn't notice anything wrong until she started screaming. Do you know how difficult it is to stop pissing when you have been drinking beer for eight hours? You can't!” He seemed disgruntled about the entire situation.

With a shake of his head, he said, “They also made me take work harassment classes. I didn't mind those so much. Got a nice extra snooze in. Why they want to teach how to harass at the workplace is beyond me. I much prefer being nice to those I work with. Gives me a nice feeling.”

Whisper's mouth went up and down like she was imitating a goldfish. Ambros wasn't sure he looked much better but decided this was above his pay grade, so he just said. “Sounds horrible. I'm sad you had to go through aa of that. Think you can help me with the registration and accessing the node. I don't want to take up more of your time than necessary?”

Marcus gave him a big smile and said, “Of course, Ambros. Just place your hand here.” He pulled out a copper plate the size of a book and placed it on the counter. In the middle, there was a circle with an engraved palm on it.

Ambros put his palm on the mark, and in no time, the copper plate glowed, and a disk the size of a brooch jumped off from the top right corner. Marcus took the plate and handed Ambros the disk. After looking at it, he grunted in satisfaction before saying, “Here you are, Ambros Mardux. Welcome to the adventurers guild. You can have your badge turned into a pin or something in the crafting rooms. Take the stairs to your left, go down two floors, and you are at the system node rooms. Just ask whoever is sitting at the desk for help. We take care of our own. Sadly it's only for adventurers, so your friend can't join you.” He genuinely looked sad about it too.

“Thank you, Marcus. I appreciate everything you did for me,” Ambros said and shook Marcuse's hand again. “No worries, Ambros, we can always grab a beer later, and ill tell you about life in the rift.” Ambros nodded while Whisper took the time to shake the orc's hand.

“Goodbye, Marcus. It was nice meeting you.” She said as they walked away. Marcus gave her a wave and a smile in return.

Turning to Ambros, she said, “What a nice orc. Getting your attribute points spent is the best way for you to protect yourself, so that should be the priority. It will probably take a while, so ill meet you here in the hall tomorrow morning. Second bell after sunrise? I know the guild can handle accommodations for you. They do for most adventurers.”

It was almost a shock to him. Suddenly he would be alone again. “Alright then, you sure you will be fine?” He asked. Not really sure why she wouldn't be.

“Yes, Ambros. I will be fine. I will see you by the entrance to the guild tomorrow. We can go and arrange a more permanent accommodations for you then.” She said with a smile and a wave. Ambros waved back, and then she was gone.

Clearing his throat at the unnecessary fear he had felt at her leaving. He started walking down the stairs.

Two floors down, he was met with another desk and a bored human woman. Walking up, he flashed her a smile while saying, “Ambros, new to the guild. I was told this is where the system nodes are?” Without changing expression, she said, “Guild badge?” While holding a palm out towards him.

He figured she meant the copper disk, so he handed it over. She took one look at it, snorted, and slid it across a smooth glass surface on her desk before handing it back and saying. “Room number 24. An attendant will be with you there shortly.”

Ambros said, “Thank you?” While opening the door. She didn't answer. Nice lady.

The hallway was lined with doors for as far as he could see. As luck had it, the closes one to him was number one, so he didn't have far to walk.

When he entered room twenty-four, he was far from certain what to expect, but a stone coffin was not one of the top suspects. He took a look around. There was a desk, two chairs, and the coffin. Other than that no pictures, details, or even any paint to look at. It was just devoid of any personality.

It took around ten minutes for the door to open again, and Ambros nearly pissed himself from the aura that enveloped him. It took every bit of his stubborn nature and will to even keep standing and not curl up in a weeping ball of his own excrement.

The person that entered looked like a human-sized dragon walking on two legs, wings, and everything. Ambros had never encountered the species before, so he wasn't sure what to expect, but to use your aura like that was not a peace sign.

Bearly hanging on, he removed the shroud he had over himself and released his own aura, laughable as it was in the face of the domineering bloodthirsty monster standing before him.

Ambros didn't know how much time had passed, it seemed like an eternity, but suddenly it stopped. He fell back on his hunches and sat panting.

“You are weak but not useless. Good or bad. It matters little if you do not push yourself neophyte.” Its voice sharp but with the hissing sounds you would expect from someone with a reptilian mouth.

“Do you know how often someone registering in the guild sets off an alarm? No, don't answer. I didn't, either. I had to look it up.”

“Since you do not look like or smell like a greater demon or one of the host, that would make you a traveler. I'm yet to decide which of those I think is worse. Considering someone from the outside was able to enter the duel planes. I will have to think about this. Had you landed on Lemadis, every templar would have been out hunting you. At least you have had some luck.”

Ambros could hear its heavy steps coming towards him. Looking up, he was surprised to see a scaled but surprisingly human hand, if you disregard the claws.

“Stand up, traveler. It gives me little pleasure in seeing even your kind cover before me.” Ambros took the offered hand and was pulled up before he had time to adjust. He was lucky to land on his feet.

“You are much younger than I expected. Interesting. You may call me Ekurzakir, or Eku for short. I lost any interest in formalities long ago.”

“So what remains is to decide your fate. Tell me, traveler, how did you come to be here.” Ambros was certain this person, Eku, would kill him without blinking if he thought it necessary, so he told the truth. He told him about how he had woken up and everything that had happened until now. A few details the system had warned him about divulging were kept secret, but it hardly mattered to the story.

“Good, you at least tell the truth. Do you know what happened the last time travelers came to this world? Ambros shook his head, and Eky continued, “I will tell you something only known to a very few.”

“A scourge. A group of beings more powerful than anyone was prepared to deal with. They were humans, from the statues and descriptions that remain, but stood half again as tall as you or me. They command powers never before seen by any species on Lemadis. Not even the great dragons of old could stand before them. When they conquered new land, they slew or enslaved its inhabitants. They then brought in more of their people, lesser in stature and power but still mighty. These lessers were to run the land before continuing their rampage. Like locusts, they spread across the lands. Killing, enslaving, ravaging, pillaging.”

“When they reached the great forest of the elves, they didn't even bother going in. They held a great feast. Then they summoned fire from the depths of the earth. In great rivers, it made its way through the forest, decimating both the elves and the trees. The Mother, the oldest tree, saw the demise of its forests of its people and offered up its soul to allow the gods to bend the rules of the heavens and, for a short while, walk the earth again.”

“The gods joined in battle against the invading force. It is said the battle lasted but a few breaths, but in that time, all the greater of the invaders were slain and many of their lesser brothers and sisters.”

“Sadly, seven of the gods lost their divinity during the fight. So powerful were the invaders that they could harm divinity. These seven were cast down and became the seven greater demons, hating all of creation, especially the descendants of the invaders.”

“During the battle, the land was ravaged and was broken up into three, but the sacrifice of The Mother had been successful. The worst of the invaders were slain even if the price had been terrible. In a last act to honor The Mother, the gods came together and converged a plane to run parallel with Lemadis. A plane that was uninhabited but endless. This would act as a shield for Lemadis to keep outsiders away, closing the lands off from the rest of existence.”

“That was the birth and death of the first empire of man. The descendants of the lesser invaders now run what is known as the empire. More than a million years have passed, but the scars still run deep.”

Eku looked Ambros straight in the eye and said, “You smell like the imperials, but you don't act like them. It bothers me.” Eku grew quiet, seemingly lost in thought. Minutes passed with Ambros barely daring to breathe.

“I have decided. You live. The great work was to keep invaders from reaching Lemadis. You are not a threat to anyone, nor are you on Lemadis. Their sin is not yours. Who knows, maybe you end up becoming the biggest fear of their descendants.”

“Now, you will tell no one you are a traveler, most people will not understand what it means, but you will get an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny from those that do. If they don't decide to end you. Understand?”

Ambros finally found his voice and said in a hoarse voice, “Understood.”

“Good, you speak, and you understand. I will delete the alarm and inform the guild master when she returns. No one else. Only guild leaders will be able to see more than your contribution points, rank, and name. Now you will distribute your attributes by putting twenty points in Body and twelve points in Mind.”

Deciding he needed some answers, no matter how unstable the person in front of him seemed, Ambros asked the two things that bothered him the most. “Why? What happens now?”

Eku looked at Ambros with mirth. “Now we start training. It pains me to see how useless you are. You will distribute the attributes like that because putting more attributes into Spirit will kill you if you try circulating Energy any length of time, so until we understand how you can safely start circulating your Energy. No points into Spirit. I suspect it is because you ran before you could crawl, and your Energy is already too dense for the first stage of circulating, but we will find a way.”

“As to why I'm doing this. I intend to study you and learn what differentiates the imperial elite from the other humans. It is clear that you are of the same bloodline. There is also the greatest reason of all, karma.”

That was a lot to take in at once, but the part that hit Ambros the hardest was being called useless because he knew he was. Pushing the thoughts aside, he said. “You think I'm an imperial because I look similar to what most of them do or something? All imperials are lanky, brown-haired, have strange eyes and pasty white skin?.”

Eku chuckled. “No, while they are in general much taller than the local humans, they come in every eye color, skin color, and hair color. The only thing that makes them physically similar is their height and skin that looks to never be kissed by the sun.”

“What makes me think you are of the same bloodline is that you have already opened the meridian where you store your Energy. This is how most imperials from their capital city look to me before they start cultivating, so clearly, it is possible.

Entering the system node, the last thing he saw was Eku giving him a toothy grin as he slid the lid into place.

Ambros lay in total darkness for a few seconds, and it was surprisingly soothing and peaceful. Then his tiny dark world exploded in starlight. Millions of them.

Welcome Questor Ambros Mardux

Atribute distrubution

System shop

Ambros opened the system shop first because who in their right mind wouldn't.

Available system points: 23,854

He started scrolling. Half the things he could see had no meaning to him, but the lowest prices he could see were in the tens of millions. Finding a filter function, he searched with ten thousand points, but nothing was found.

Next, he tried to sort by increasing price. Sitting exactly at ten million points was a pill that would extend his life by a thousand years, a bottle that would give increase the drinker's chance of surviving a core transformation, a wand that would summon a third grade fire elemental, and the list went on with things he either had no idea about or found to be less than useful for him, even if the fire elemental was tempting. A third tire elemental could lay waste to town in short order.

It would seem he needed to earn a lot more points and get some idea of what was worth buying.

Picking attribute distribution, a new screen popped up.

Attribute distribution

Unspent attribute points: 32

Body: 5 ( E )

Mind: 5 ( E )

Spirit: 5 ( E )

He added twenty points to Body and twelve points to Mind. When he hit confirm, the system asked him to confirm the selection again, which he did. Everything went black again.

When Ambros woke up, he felt amazing, unlike the first time he had put points into the attributes. Putting a palm against the lid was all it took for the lid to slide open.

Looking down at his body, he was more than pleased with the physical results. He looked like he lifted weights four times weekly and competed in the triathlon.

Carefully pulling himself up from the coffin, he wasn't sure how much stronger he had become, but he wasn't about to do something stupid like hurling himself into the sealing or halfway across the room.

When he made his way out of the coffin, he could see Ekurzakir sitting on one of the chairs, reading a book, wired spectacles on and everything. Eku looked up as Ambrose's feet hit the floor and said, “Good. Good. Much faster than I had anticipated, I thought you would spend more time looking at the items shop. Now, to the important question. Do these make me look gentle and kind?” He motioned towards his spectacles.

Ambros decided they did not. “I didn't really have the points to buy anything in the shop, so I didn't see much reason to keep looking. No, they do not. You still look terrifying.”

“Blasted. The merchant said it was the latest in looking scholarly and wise. He guaranteed it would make any student of mine look at me as a wise and kind grandfather. I'll wring his neck and hang him up by his intestines later today.”

Ambros stood there wondering if he should try to inform said merchant about his upcoming death. Eku continued, “Well, time to stop being lazy. Now you eat, then you train and eat and train until I decide you are worth training some more. Smile, neophyte. You are taking the first step on the road away from useless.” The smile on Ekus's face made Ambros shiver.