Vittorio was in a great deal of pain. Chainmail was many things, but hug-friendly it was not.

"Vee!", Gloria practically screamed in his ear. "Congratulations!" She gave him a hard squeeze then backed off, holding him at arms length. "It really is happening, isn't it? Killing monsters, gaining levels, becoming adventurers!" She went back to hugging him.

Nuno cleared his throat. "Yes, congratulations. I had planned on a few more fights but this might be too distrac-"

"No", Vittorio said. "We'll keep going. I'll be focused." He was dead-set on Gloria levelling up as well before they ended for the day.

Nuno looked into his eyes and seemed to accept what he saw. "Okay, another two. Let's see what you can do now that you have an idea of what you're up against. Vittorio, remember to try and aim where they'll be, not where they are. The spears are quick but they're not immediate."

He nodded, and the two took up positions similar to last time, though now with Vittorio close to the wall with the gate. They wanted to capitalize on Gloria bashing them into the wall better this time.

It took a little while for Vanessa to open the gate: The way rats were released was extremely simple. You open the inner gate, wait a while, then drop it to capture the number you want. Thankfully the monsters were incredibly curious. When the gate opened for the second time, the rats acted just like their slain comrades - furiously aggressive towards the nearest thing they saw. Also like the first two these had oddities about their bodies: One had far too many toes, and thus claws, on its front feet and the others tail stood straight out. It looked hard. Toes and Tail it is.

It seemed going for the face was a rat-favourite, as these rushed Gloria and leapt at her. She was ready for them, and with her Happy Fervent buff giving her increased move speed she had time to take a step back before lowering her stance and using her shield to slam into them with all the force she could muster. That fraction of a second, that half-meter extra distance, meant a great deal more of the rats momentum had been spent. They were knocked back and down, and she struck with her sword - a near miss, the rat twisting away.

Vittorio had greater success, scoring a hit on Toes side mid-jump and a lucky shot into Tails belly started bleeding profusely. As the two monsters got up and advanced on Gloria once more, he decided to do something new. He saw them gather themselves to jump again and used Suspend to create a short-term barrier between Tails and Gloria. It worked! The rat slammed into the solid block of air head-first and dropped back, stunned. Vittorio could feel the strain in the skill construct - the rat had almost gotten through it. Almost was not enough, and he fired more Wind Weaponry into its confused back. One spear struck the tail and rather than pierce it - or even entirely sever it - his attack removed only a chip from it. It seemed Tails' tail was made of stone.

Gloria caught on that he'd done something after only one rat hit her shield and seized the moment, stepping forth and practically severing Toes in half. Tails lasted only a moment longer.

Nuno nodded at them. "Better. Faster, more aggressive, but keeping safe. Excellent strike on the first one down, Gloria. Vittorio, did you stop one with Suspend? Yeah? Good! Your aim was better too, but getting comfortable with your other skills is important."

Out of the corner of his eye, Vittorio saw Gloria deflating slightly. It seemed the second fight wasn't enough. "Do you mind if we do just one more round?", he asked. "There's something I want to try."

"That's fine by me", Nuno said. "How are you holding up, Gloria?"

"I'm good", she said, though she was a bit out of breath. "Let's do it!"

It didn't take long for Vanessa to trap two more, and Vittorio was able to set his plan into motion practically right away. While waiting he had been forming a picture in his mind of the shape he wanted to Suspend: A thick U-shape. As the rats initial charge failed he managed to snap it into place over one of the rats ("Eyes", on account of having too many of them). It wriggled and would no doubt get free if given the time, but Vittorio ensured it didn't. Its face and belly were covered in deep wounds and messy blood by the time it stopped moving. Gloria, meanwhile, had held the other one in place by standing on its tail and finishing it off by stabbing into its lower back.

"Very good", Nuno said. "I think we'll move up to three next time, you seem to-"

"Yes!", Gloria screamed. "I levelled too!"

Vittorio gave her a big smile. Part of him felt like he should be running over and hugging her like she'd done to him, but... that wasn't him. She did it for him. The chainmail was no more comfortable this time.

"Congratulations!", Nuno said, also smiling. "Why don't you get yourselves cleaned up and we'll chat about talents upstairs?"

The guild had three large communal baths with heated, magically-cleaned water: One for men, one for women, and one for everyone. Despite his curiosity Vittorio had not ventured into the "everyone welcome" bath. Full of vigour and excitement over levelling up he went into the men's bath as usual. But he did look at the door to the mixed one! Just for a moment though.

Clean and in freshly laundered clothes, he entered one of the sitting rooms to find Gloria already in deep discussion with Tarcisio.

"He's very excited, isn't he?", Pachakutek asked. "Impossible to make him wait, right? How was your bath?"

"It was good, thank you. I'm still getting used to washing in such warm water."

"Bathing is a bit tricky for me, you know? Would you believe it can take an hour just to try to get my fur mostly dry? And I probably look silly with it all wet and clingy, don't you think?"

Vittorio could feel a bit of heat building in his face. "I-I wouldn't know, I'll take your word for it."

"Stop teasing the boy", Nuno cut in. Pachakutek grinned. "So! Level two. I take it your [Class Guide] gave you advice?"

"Yes", Vittorio said, sitting down in a soft chair. "He said the lesser Talents were 'aptly named', and that I should generally look to Tag or Class Talents."

"I'm not Guided so I can't really speak to it myself", Nuno said. "Ulberto and Pachakutek are though."

"It's good advice, but you probably knew that, right?", Pachakutek asked. "I'm guessing he told you there are three kinds of Talents too? Improving a Trait, getting a new Trait, and learning a skill, you see? Tag and Class ones are better than generic, but none of them are great, you know?"

"What're your tags?", Ulberto asked.

"Deals, Occult, and Transformation."

Ulberto nodded. "I got Occult. Pretty good. Can broaden your skills."

"The other two seem pretty obvious, but I don't really know what Occult is about."

"Type o' magic. Hexes, rituals, tha' kinda thing."

"I think an initiate skill could be good, don't you?", Pachakutek asked.

"Prob'ly. Tha' or armour or shield Trait."

"Initiate? Those let you start casting spells, right?"

"Yes, but very simple ones, you know? You'd hardly become an [Occultist] just from having the tag, right?"

Vittorio decided to have a look at the Talents available to him. At first he was overwhelmed by the sheer number, but he managed to control the Interface enough to make it more readable:

Attributes Talents Class Available Status Generic Log Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by one step, up to Good. Requires at least Basic rating. Gain Proficiency: Gain Basic rating in the use of a common weapon, language, or simple tool. Value Assessment: Gain a vague, accurate sense of a fair price for items you own. Threat assessment: Gain a vague, accurate sense of the danger posed by monsters or foes in combat. Improve Clothing: Clothing you wear is slightly more resistant to stains and damage. Tag: Deals Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. Available Traits: Elocution, Read body language, Trustworthiness. Gain Proficiency: Gain Basic rating in a Trait. Available Traits: Breath control, Knowledge: Oratory, Knowledge: Body language. Negotiation Assessment: Gain a vague, accurate sense of how a negotiation is going. Violation Awareness: When a party to an agreement with you violates it, you may become aware of it. The chance increases the greater and more public the violation. Skill: Renegotiate: Force a negotiation to start over. You may use this skill once per week. Tag: Occult Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. Available Traits: Attention to detail, Coordination, Reasoning Gain Proficiency: Gain Basic rating in a Trait. Available Traits: Knowledge: Occult, Knowledge: Rituals, Supernatural Awareness Sympathetic Assessment: Gain a vague, accurate sense of how well an object represents what you wish it to. Occult Identification: When encountering the aftermath of an occult skill or ritual, get a vague, accurate sense that it is so and what occurred. Occult Initiate: You gain the ability to learn basic occult spells. Tag: Transformation Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. Available Traits: Concentration, Knowledge: Biology, Resistance: Physical Gain Proficiency: Gain Basic rating. Available Traits: Knowledge: Magical theory, Knowledge: Monstrous biology, Magical attacks: Immediate Compatibility Assessment: Gain a vague, accurate sense of how well a transformation effect synergizes with the rest of the creature. Transformation Identification: When encountering the aftermath of a transformative skill or ritual, get a vague, accurate sense that it is so and what occurred. Transformation Initiate: You gain the ability to learn basic transformative spells. Class: Pactmaker Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. Available Traits: Adaptability Pact Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. This also increases your non-boosted natural rating by two. Available Traits: Concentration, Magical attacks: Ranged, Reactions Price Evaluation: Gain an increased sense of what will satisfy the price of a pact.

Alert!

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You have 1 Talent point!

Strengthen Position: Gain a slight increase to your ability to negotiate with those in The Place Which Is Not. Skill: Commune with Mortal: Send a short telepathic message to a creature you can see. You may use this skill sometimes.

"How can something be both vague and accurate?"

"Don't you think most things in the system are?", asked Pachakutek. "Being 'good' at something is vague and accurate, isn't it?"

"I suppose", Vittorio admitted grudgingly. He still didn't like it.

"Thinkin' 'assessments'? They're shortcu's. Can do the same with effort an' learnin'. They're no' wrong to have, bu' best for stuff you won' be learnin."

"What about 'Threat Assessment'?"

Ulberto moved his head side-to-side. "Could be good. Could be useless. Could be dangerous. Rely on it and face somethin' that can fool it, an', well..."

"You should only listen to the warnings, you know? But it's easy to get complacent when you think it should be easy, isn't it?"

"Ulberto, what's 'Sympathetic Assessment'? I don't understand it."

"A lo' of occult magic an' rituals are sympathetic. You use somethin' to represent somethin' else. The better the symbolism the better the resul'."

"Fire for rage, that kind of thing?"

"Yeah, bu' what kind of fire? What's it burnin'? How hot is it? How long will it burn? Basics are simple 'nough, bu' specifics are tricky. You don' need it for now anyway, no use for it."

Vittorio looked over his options and felt torn, though he also knew it wouldn't be all that long until he got another selection: The Rat Room would speed things up a lot. He narrowed it down to just a few options.

Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by one step, up to Good. Requires at least Basic rating. Occult Initiate: You gain the ability to learn basic occult spells. Improved Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good - Resistance: Physical Transformation Initiate: You gain the ability to learn basic transformative spells. Pact Aptitude: Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very good. This also increases your non-boosted natural rating by two. Available Traits: Concentration, Magical attacks: Ranged, Reactions Strengthen Position: Gain a slight increase to your ability to negotiate with those in The Place Which Is Not. Skill: Commune with Mortal: Send a short telepathic message to a creature you can see. You may use this skill sometimes.

Improving his Trait for using armour seemed like it would be useful, especially since it meant he'd have to deal with getting hit by Gloria in training a lot less. It wasn't vital however: It didn't do anything he couldn't do on his own, and it was just one step. From his understanding learning to cast spells was extremely hard without a class or Talent, and he did like the thought of them. Most likely Occult since Ulberto had offered to tutor him a bit. His Resistance: Physical was already at Adequate so one Talent point would bring him up to Very good, and he'd been told it was a very important resistance for adventurers.

Then there were the class talents: Improving what {The Still Wind} have him would be excellent, especially since he was planning on sticking to it for the time being. He was sure he was going to pick Commune with Mortal eventually, but it could wait for now. Strengthen Position was interesting as it suggested he could bargain with the entities. But what exactly? Lower price? Stronger abilities? Could he anger them? Negotiating was one of his class activities as well, so it would give him experience...

He decided he had plenty of time for most of them, but there was no telling how long Ulberto would be around or how long his offer would stand. On that simple math, he selected Occult Initiate...

The alert went away. His Class screen showed it as a Talent. Other than that, nothing seemed to have changed. He told the others.

Ulberto nodded. "Righ'. I'll give it some thought an' well see what we'll do. Prob'ly start with Stumblin' Hex, tha's a good one."

"What does it do?"

Ulberto gave him a flat look. "Makes 'em stumble."

"Right."

Gloria and Tarcisio soon joined them, and Gloria announced that she had selected a similar Talent: Basic Empowered Strikes would let her learn basic attacks with extra effects. Many martial classes had a more advanced version, but she had her Fervent buffs instead. Both Tarcisio and Nuno said they'd help her out.

The two very tired and pleased young budding adventurers soon retired for the night, their minds filled with thoughts of what they'd soon be able to do.