“Where the hell are we?” Fred exclaimed while looking around. “What is this place?”

Robb let out a chuckle while glancing at Roy before answering, “This is our new village.”

“What?” Fred furrowed his eyebrows. “Did these buildings just appear from the sky? Or was I asleep for a month?”

“From the earth actually,” Roy replied before shaking his head. “Don’t try to understand it, you know how it goes.”

“Yeah, but this is too much,” Fred’s frown grew even deeper. He then pointed at the young well-dressed man and asked, “And who is this?”

“Aswad, guardian and protector of the territory” the young man replied. “Shall I give you a tour of the village?”

Fred looked even more confused. He looked back at Roy for answers, but the latter could only shrug.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Roy admitted. “Aswad will explain things much better than me.”

Fred was about to nod when he noticed something. He looked around and counted the people in the group before his expression grew horrid, “Where are the rest? Where is Alfonse?”

“They’re bringing the villagers back,” Jack responded. “Don’t worry about them, they’re alright.”

The mood turned slightly sour as the thought of death resurfaced, but Aswad was quick on the uptake.

“Let’s start by going to the Village Hall,” Aswad proposed to Fred. “We can check what your talent might be there before you choose your class.”

“Talent?” Even though Fred still had a lot of questions, he followed Aswad’s lead and the two walked toward the village hall.

Roy turned toward the rest of the group, “I’m sure you guys are already tired, why don’t you choose your house and call it for the night?”

“Finally,” Tyler sighed. “I was waiting for you to say that.”

“Can’t even make fun of you for that,” Daven chuckled. “I’m dead beat.”

Jack looked at Roy and said, “We will be taking the one next to the shop if you don’t mind.”

“It’s fine by me,” Roy shrugged. “Just get yourself comfortable.”

“Well then, see you in a bit,” Jack took the lead and his group followed after him to their new home.

Seeing the five enter their house, Roy looked at Robb and said, “Should we take a look at those skills from back then?”

“What skills?” Robb furrowed his eyebrows before a look of enlightenment covered his face. “Ah, you mean the ones we got from the dungeon?”

“Yep,” Roy put down his backpack and took the scrolls that had been gathering dust for the past few days. He gave Robb the aura scroll and used the lightning one.

Do you wish to learn the Lightning Bolt Skill?

Roy confirmed the message in his mind and a screen appeared in front of him.

Lightning Bolt

Description:

Launch a lightning bolt (size depends on mana used) towards a specific location where it will explode into a lightning storm (size and strength depends on mana used)

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Proficiency:

0.0%

Huh, pretty similar to fireball…

Unfortunately, Roy’s mana reserves were still very low, and he didn’t want to use them just to test his new skill. Leaving those thoughts behind, he shifted his focus toward Robb.

“What does it say?” Roy gestured at Robb his head in interest.

“It makes me faster and stronger,” Robb chuckled. “I wonder if I can use it with my shadow aura skill at the same time? I will be so fast that no one can see me.”

The theory crafting session was cut short as the two could hear incoming footsteps from beyond the gate. Alfonse and Marth’s groups were bringing the large group of villagers inside the wall.

“That’s some good work you have done,” Marth praised as he looked at the vaste array of houses in front of him. “This ability to create building in seconds is truly marvelous. We could build a city in no time!”

“We could build even more,” Roy chuckled before focusing on the villagers in the back. “Why don’t I let you and Mr. Roger decide on who goes where? Each house has five beds.”

“So everyone will have their own bed?” Alfonse inwardly exclaimed. The villagers that heard his words started murmuring amongst each other with excitement and hope.

“We have more than enough resources, so of course everyone will have their own bed,” Roy replied with a smile before looking back at Marth, “I trust you and Mr. Roger will do things properly. Just keep one house free for private meetings.”

Marth nodded at Roy’s words with a grin, “Don’t worry. I already counted the houses and there is more than enough for everyone.”

“Great, then I’ll you do that,” Roy gave the knight captain the thumbs up. “After you’re done, have all the fighters come here. There are still a couple of things that need to be done.”

Marth furrowed his eyebrows at Roy’s cryptic statement before just nodding and turning around to the rest of his group and the villagers. Alfonse did the same and went back to his own group. With Conrad and Brian dead, they were no longer the biggest crew around. Derek was still taking care of the shocked Thomas while Alric was discussing with Marth and Roger what needed to be done.

From within the crowd of villagers a small figure dashed like a ghost. Jaimie rushed toward Roy before stopping and looking at him with an excited expression.

“Did you guys win? How was the fight?”

Roy masked his feelings with a smile and responded, “We did win against the red bear, but we had some problems.”

Understanding the tone of the situation, Jaimie tilted his head, “Problems? What kind of problems?”

“Some of our friends died,” Robb cut to the chase, taking Jaimie aback.

The young boy stood in silence for a few seconds as he processed the information, “Like Aiden?”

Hearing the innocent question, Roy let out a sigh, “Yeah, just like Aiden.”

A heavy silence pressed over the three friends, and neither Roy nor Robb thought of breaking it. It was only proper to respect their fallen comrades and keep a serious atmosphere.

Minutes quickly passed before Fred and Aswad made their way back from their little tour. Seeing the mesmerized expression on Fred’s face, Roy could relate to his surprise and amazement.

“So, what do you think?” Robb stood up from the grass with a long stretch.

“So much new stuff,” Fred let out a nervous chuckle. “I don’t think I understood everything, but there is just so much to remember.”

“You’re damn right,” Robb laughed heartily. “Just when I think I understand how this works, it just throws us a new wrench.”

“How about your class?” Roy cut through the small talk and asked the most important question.

“Apprentice shieldmancer,” Fred took out his shield with a proud expression. “Apparently, it’s good with barriers and use shields for attacking and defending. Doesn’t that sound cool?”

“You’re damn right it does,” Robb whistled in surprise. “So you’re just gonna be bashing people’s heads with your shield. That does sound like a good style for you.”

As Fred and Robb were chuckling, Jaimie looked at the two with furrowed eyebrows, “Classes? What are classes?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Roy scratched the young boy’s hair. “Once everyone comes back, we’ll go get you a class.”

Focusing back on Fred, Roy asked, “So what skill did you get?”

“Shield bash,” Fred grinned and raised his shield. “Let me show you.”

Fred turned around to the left where no one was in his way and took a stance with his shield. The black and white shield shone with a brown magical aura as did Fred’s hands and feet. He then took a deep breath before charging with incredible speed at the air. In less than a second, he crossed a distance of five meters before his shield burst with a small shockwave pushing all the grass around him.

“Damn, good show,” Robb clapped. “Very fast too, not many can dodge that.”

Roy was also impressed at the show of skill from his friend. As he watched Fred’s proud figure, a thought suddenly dawned on him.

Wait… Can’t we split up tomorrow for the normal difficulty run? All the groups should be able to handle it now.