In preparation of once more taking on the monstrous rats under the guild hall, Vittorio ended his pact with {The Singular Direction} and formed one with {The Still Wind} again. He did not try to negotiate the terms - he was still getting comfortable with the skills, and while he couldn't really use Path of Air in the Rat Room he expected to be using the standard pact once he was ready to head out on quests. Pachakutek had told him that would happen around level five, assuming there was something suitable, and that the first times he'd be joining as an observer more than anything. The Free Company was very careful about sending beginners out in the field.

Nuno once more joined Vittorio and Gloria in the Room. The plan was for them to fight two-on-two a few more times so they could try out their new attacks, after which he'd be setting some challenges. Only then would they be increasing the numbers.

"In the wild monstrous rats swarm, relying on their numbers to overwhelm and get around the flanks", he explained. "You need to be ready for that. Both of you. It's a common strategy and one that can often lead to mistakes." He turned to focus on Vittorio. "There will be times when the warriors can't keep everything at bay. You need to get comfortable holding them off, or better yet killing them, on your own."

The first bout of the day took longer than the last time they'd been in here, due to both Vittorio and Gloria testing their new skills against living creatures. Vittorio had had the sneaky idea of using Agonizing Hex to try and make one rat turn on the other, but his efforts were ignored. He wasn't really all that surprised: Previous rats had ignored bleeding wounds, a stab of pain was unlikely to do much. Swelling Hex also proved largely useless, and also not unexpectedly. After they were done he earned a groan from Gloria by informing her that Stumbling Hex worked hexcellently. It took much less concentration than the others and kept interrupting the rat's leap attacks.

Gloria, meanwhile, had mainly been focusing on getting the timing right of Quick Slash. The issue was similar to her Happy buff in the early days - she simply moved too fast, throwing off her aim. She would turn her shield aside, activate the skill, her arm would blur in an attack, and then she'd turn the shield back to facing forwards. Aiming was the problem. Ultimately she killed both rats with it though.

They repeated the exercise two more times, the last being a swift and decisive win thanks to a Swift Slash against one rat and a Stumbling Hex leading to a spear of air into the seconds neck. Nuno declared that they'd progressed beyond two-on-twos.

After that, it was time for Vittorio to step up to the frontline. He understood the necessity and absolutely preferred to experience it here than in a cave somewhere, but that didn't mean he liked it. He didn't even really know what Wind Armour could do - it had taken a blow before without breaking so he knew it worked, but beyond that was a mystery.

The rats were released. His first goal was to stagger them to avoid both leaping at the same time. A Stumbling Hex on Big Tooth was quickly followed by a spear of air. Knowing what was coming he barely managed to get out of the way of Hissers jump. He locked it down with another U-shaped Suspend - more challenging than Stumbling Hex, but longer-lasting as well. Big Tooth was almost on him and this time his dodge was not quite enough, as he felt the impact on his Wind Armour on his right shoulder. It held, but he could sense it weakening. He moved back, firing spears of air into Big Tooths face. Its left eye popped in a horrifying way, something inside it mixing with blood and running down its face.

Big Tooth was surely dying, and this did not improve its mood. It again charged at Vittorio, now joined by Hisser who had wriggled free. Vittorio ran to get Big Tooth in between himself and Hisser and cast another Stumbling Hex, hoping to trip both of them. Hisser, however, was quick and hopped over Big Tooth, continuing to hunt Vittorio down. Wind Weaponry went wide and Hisser leaped at Vittorios chest. With no time to dodge he blocked the rat with his left arm. His Wind Armour withstood the impact - but broke from the rats scrabbling claws. As it began to scratch gouges in the armour covering his forearm Vittorio jabbed his wand into its chest and started firing Wind Weaponry as quickly as he could. The rat was heavy and he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.

Nuno rushed towards him to help, but seeing that Vittorio had the situation under control for now just stayed close, while behind him Gloria finished off Big Tooth. Hisser fell off of Vittorio's arm as it began to buckle.

"That was... not great", Nuno said. Vittorio nodded. "Barely passable. A faster or better Suspend might have been enough to top the scales. You handled getting attacked well, obviously."

"Yeah", Vittorio said. "I don't really know Wind Armour well enough. It almost held but then it started scratching. Maybe I should have punched or something."

"Vee", Gloria said seriously. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. A few scratches on my hand but the leather held. Maybe a small buckler would be good though."

"Normally, I'd agree", Nuno said. "With your skills you want to be agile and quiet, but you're already quiet. You could easily go for something more heavy-duty, like a manica. The plates can rattle up a storm but it'd protect you shoulder to hand. But! That's a thought for another time. It's time for you to be outnumbered."

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Before that Vittorio took some time to inspect his Wind Armour. It slowly regained solidity on its own, but he found it did so faster if he moved and that he could patch it up with Suspend - make a bit of air where the armour should have been solid, and it merged with the rest of it. Practical, though slower than moving around.

Three rats proved to be more time-consuming, but not all that much more difficult. As long as they stayed focused and careful they were never in any danger. Their new skills showed their worth again and again, and as they called it a day and went to dinner, they were in high spirits. Vittorio leveled up again, having gained a lot of experience by learning while in a pact with {The Singular Direction}. He used his Talent point on Pact Aptitude.

Talents Available Class: Pactmaker 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

He raised his reaction rating, having seen how vital it was to so much of what he did in the Rat Room. He didn't mention it to Gloria, as he felt bad about outlevelling her. She'd told him that her class activities were combat, inspire emotions, and protect others, and she simply didn't have the opportunity to do the latter two during training. Perhaps she could have inspired emotions with another trainer, but Tarcisio was wholly responsible for his own emotions. In the evening it was back out into town to 'foil the plans of the wind'.

A few more days passed like that, with the number of rats increasing to four and Nuno forcing the two of them into uncomfortable situations before Ochi again spectated a fight. She surprised them by releasing not four but five rats, and while the extra did make things a bit more complicated, it was nothing they couldn't handle. Vittorio felt like a true adventurer after punching one out of the air with his new piece of armour: It was basically the shoulder guard, sleeve, and gauntlet from a bigger suit of armour held on to him with leather straps. It was surprisingly light and agile, though he was still getting used to it.

"I've seen enough", Ochi said through the gap by the window. "You can start tagging along on quests. Good work." She left without another word or glance, while in the room a blood-splattered Gloria hugged Vittorio as Nuno congratulated them. Vittorio had just reached level 4 and Gloria was well into level 3. For his level 4 Talent he'd picked up basic proficiency in Supernatural Awareness.

Tag: Occult Gain Proficiency: Gain Basic rating in a Trait. Available Traits: Knowledge: Occult, Knowledge: Rituals, Supernatural Awareness

Opinions on Supernatural Awareness had been split. Gloria, Tarcisio, and Pachakutek had been against it, Vanessa had been for it, and Nuno neutral. There were two issues with it, according to the 'no'-group: First, there was no way of training it. His proficiency would 'likely languish' as Tarcisio put it. Second, it just didn't have many applications. 'Supernatural' was highly specific and did not include common forms of magic of any sort. Hauntings, spontaneous occult effects, and creatures not of the world are simply extremely rare. Vanessa and Vittorio argued that the rarity of the skill had value in and of itself, as did being able to reliably rule out those possibilities. The [Scout] was a firm believer in gathering the most and most accurate information possible before putting anyone at risk. Nuno had just said both sides had merit, but that it was up to Vittorio.

That argument had been yesterday, however, and was thoroughly overshadowed by the news of Ochis approval.

"We should celebrate, shouldn't we?", Pachakutek had asked with a big smile. "And you wouldn't mind me paying, would you? Have you ever had Ayjalupi food before?"

Gloria and Vittorio had not. Pachakutek lead them all to a restaurant in the outer city, a cozy-looking place with colourful curtains covering the glassless windows. Inside a mikhuq server showed them past low walls separating semi-private eating areas and to a two-tiered table with a raised section in the middle surrounded by a lower one. Pachakutek explained that the servers would be putting plates and bowls of food on the raised section, and you would take what you wanted onto your own plate on the lower section. Notably, you didn't order the food. The servers would instead bring a variety of dishes, and when the group finished something they'd bring out more - typically similar, but not identical.

Pachakutek, picking up on their confusion, explained that Azotl, God of Creation, was typically venerated above all others in Ayjalupi culture. A big part of that was allowing people to experiment and make new things in their daily work, especially [Cooks] and [Chefs]. As they dug in Vittorio found that while the food was quite different from what he was used to, it was all excellent. Bite-sized pieces of meat were common, as were various dumplings and filled breads. There was no telling exactly what you'd be getting whenever you put something in your mouth, and he found himself just plain curious about his next bite. Everything was juicy but dry on the surface, which he realized was likely to keep the pumafolks fur clean.

Served along with the food were a variety of drinks, a good number of which were dairy-based, and some served in wide, narrow glasses made for mikhuqs to lap out of. Pachakutek encouraged them to try taking a bite and washing it down with one of the drinks, and Vittorio found that while they were good being drunk on their own they truly shined as a sort of drinkable sauce. His only bad experience all night was accidentally pairing a very spicy meatball with a spicy drink. He hadn't known milk could be spicy!

True to her word, Pachakutek refused his offer of helping her pay, so he settled for promising to return the favour. He decided to ask Master Kahe for a restaurant suggestion the next time they saw each other; the dwarf had come off as something of an expert. Vittorio slept well that night, good food, good company, and good news making for a pretty good day.