Seeing Golden Goose waving at him, Fang felt sick to his stomach for an instant, the only thing he could think about was the last time he saw her, getting brutally murdered.

"Earth to Fang" Black Tooth said, as the party members got closer to him, startling Fang out of his stupor.

"Oh, sorry I zoned out for a second."

He quickly put that thought on the side and started focusing on the team.

-So, now that we're all here, what kind of mission should we do today ? Golden Goose asked to the group.

-I've already taken a look at the board, but there doesn't seem to be anything really interesting, Kirk replied.

-Hmm, do you guys know why there a seems to be a crowd gathering over there ? Fang asked, puzzled.

-Why don't we go ask someone about it?

-Hey, is there some kind of event going on ? Black Tooth asked an approachable Elf.

-Didn't you see the recruitment request to fight against the enemy Elven Kings ? the Elf answered back.

-The Eleven kings, why would they be fighting ?

-I heard they didn't agree on a certain sensible subject or something, the Elf shrugged.

After hearing that there would be recruitment for a military force, the party, interested, made it's way to the request.

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-Scouts : Player will need to scout information from the enemy's army and some fighting might be required.

-Soldiers : Player will go to the battlefront to fight.

-Support : Player will help the others through buffs, healing, moving stuff, and much more >

Looking at the Quest details, the party decided it seemed like a fun way to level up and to discover more about the Oak's Will world and its conflict. After pondering for a bit, the four members agreed that they should join the scouting Corps. Since they were still beginners to this world, it seemed a bit extreme to go fighting against trained soldiers. They still wanted to get some fighting action though, hence the choice of scouting over support.

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They then chose the scouting option, which notified them :

Seeing that they needed to go to a NPC, the party made its way over to her, while discussing some theories about why the Elven kings would decide to fight.

When they found her, each member spoke to her and registered for the scout position. Humera then notified them that they will be going the next day, and that they were free until then.

Seeing as they got some free time, Fang told the party he would go see the two NPCs for the other jobs. Kirk went to train while Black Tooth and Golden Goose both went offline.

Going back to the board, Fang noted the two other names. While he did want to get more information about the skirmish, his main reason for doing this was because he wanted to make his first post on the forum which would cost money to visit ! Boeros was very excited to see if he could make some money this way. Perhaps it would even reimburse the steep price of the VR capsule eventually.

He first went to see the soldier's Corps NPC. He learned a bit, including the location of the battlefront, information on the rewards a soldier would be getting and some estimation of the enemy's number.

Fang then went to greet the support's Corps NPC. The youthful Elf told him about the support's varied duties and roles, the use of magic in support and when Fang said that he would be joining the scout's Corps, the Elf hinted at him that a few buffing mages would also be joining the scouting Corps.

The information gathering now complete, and, Fang, not wanting to go back to Humera so soon, decided to train. He went to the Training Ground. "I guess I'll try to upgrade my Earthen Shard again...". Just when Fang shot the spell for the tenth time ;

[Your understanding of Earth magic has deepened]

[Earthen Shard (LVL.3)]

[Grey-Uncommon]

[Attack Power : Intelligence + 5]

[Has a 12% to stun small creatures]

"What in the world..." Fang was at a total lost, the last time, it took him about an hour to upgrade the spell and now, it only took 5 minutes. "Shouldn't spells be increasingly hard to upgrade ? " He thought. Then, it struck him. In the middle of all the events that had taken place, he forgot about a certain sentence on his shoulder guard. "So did the Tribunal gift me an incredible talent for magic ?" He started to feel more and more excited, before quickly realizing that ; if they gave him such a gift, the curse he would be facing might be incredibly tough. No freebies would be given, that's for sure.

Now feeling a bit anxious about the curse, he continued to train diligently and, fifteen minutes later ;

[Your understanding of Earth magic has deepened once again]

[Earthen Shard (LVL.4)]

[Grey-Uncommon]

[Attack Power : Intelligence + 7]

[Has a 15% to stun small creatures]

There was still some time left so he resumed launching the spell at the dummies. An hour later, the system notified him once again.

[You are now a Novice in Earth magic, congratulations.]

[Earthen Shard has gone up a tier]

[Earthen Shard has reached it's level cap]

[Earthen Shard (LVL.5)]

[Grey-Rare]

[Attack Power : Intelligence + 12]

[Has a 15% to stun smaller medium (at most) creatures]

Fang felt a weird warmth through his head. It wasn't uncomfortable. Then, he felt has if he understood how the Earthen Shard worked a lot better. Before, Fang mindlessly thought of the spell before it appeared in front of him, but now, he could see the shard form in his head before it appeared. The Earthen Shard itself also changed. While the shape was still reminding of a key, the edge was a bit sharper. The mishmash of stone, clay, mud and dirt now was exclusively made out of stone. It was still a mishmash of different types of stones like basalt and granite though. When he sent it flying towards the dummy, the change could clearly be felt.

-22

An impacting sound was clearly heard and a lot of heads turned towards Fang, surprised at the power of the seemingly basic spell. "Maybe I'll stand a good chance against the curse after all..." That was wishful thinking from Fang.