Tec Mage Chapter Two: Boots, Books, Helping Hands.
The first thing Atlas knew he had to do was exchange some of his gold for copper and silver coins, moving to the nearest bank and entering Atlas was stopped by the guards.
"There's no place for you here" the guard was reading Atlas clothes and found them needing. Atlas understood what was happening and decide to end this quickly, pulling out the bag of cash and showing this huge amount to guard.
Seeing the amount that this scruffy man had the guard was confused, without thinking he took a step back he knew that this was above his pay grade.
Passing the guard, Atlas went straight to the counter. The bank had people queuing up but not many because most players were either using guild banks or keeping there money on them self.
Atlas approached the desk "good day"
The clerk looked up after stamping some papers "good day sirrrr", Atlas knew what was coming and decide to put a stop to it straight away. Atlas pulled out his bag of gold and placing it on the desk.
"I would like to exchange some gold and deposit the rest." spoke Atlas with confidence.
Counting the gold, the clerk was amazed. It takes about level 120 and above to get this amount and here was a new traveller with a great amount. Sighing and thinking to him self the clerk was a tiny bit jelus. It didn't matter where the gold came from, all that mattered was the gold was here.
After finishing counting the clerk spoke "how do you want to invest your gold? We have a high risk big return or invest in the kingdom with shares or maybe a simply no risk 2.5% return at the end of the year. You can take your money out when ever but you wont get the 2.5%"
Atlas had plans for this gold and didn't want to risk it "no risk account for me but not all of it, take 20 gold out and change 2 gold to 195 pieces of silver and 500 pieces of copper"
"Yes sir" replied the clerk.
After some documents signing a bank book was handed over, Atlas checked the book then placed it in his inventory.
The second of the 4 things Atlas wanted to do was to get a pair of good boots. Looking around he found what he believed to be a NPC, Atlas wasn't completely trusting of players after the event with the warrior and his gold.
"Pardon me sir can i asked some questions" asked Atlas.
The man turned around "sure, what do ya need to know"
"I want to get some boots and what i really need is some directions to a cobbler or a tailor" Atlas explained.
The man thought about it "down the road, turn left at the bakers and then keep on going for about 100 yards"
"Ok, thank you sir" a bit of polite speech helps when asking for a small favour.
When Atlas was inside the tailors the first thing he noticed was the line, mages and rangers plus newbies were lined up. Leather armour and cloth robes were just cheaper by half than full plate and chain mail and so the line was long.
10 minutes later at the head of the queue Atlas spoke "good day madam, I'm here to order a pair of steel toe caped boots size 11 please"
The woman said almost without pause " what level, sir"
"Mmm level one" said Atlas.
The tailor looked up in surprise.
Atlas quickly said "I'm level one but i just want a pair of boot, no defence if needs be and steel or hard leather on the toes. Something with a bit of weight"
The lady opened her month then closed it, thought about it and said
"Yesss we can do it but what's the point, no protection and weight. It will make you slower with no benefits"
Atlas was pleased, there was a chance that being level one there would be no equipment for him, "yes that's fine, how much"
"Its should be about 80 copper" she explained.
"That's a lot for shoes with no stats" Atlas said out loud.
The women spoke out "It's the metal that's needs work from a smith that causes the boots to cost more"
Atlas excepted the cost "ok when will the boots be ready" Atlas was handing over 1 silver and getting 20 copper back.
"Five hours" the women answered."
"Ok I'll be around to pick it up in five hours" Atlas moved on to his third piece of his plan.
Atlas was getting better at finding thing in the city, he knew where the markets, tailor, bakers, and the banks were. As Atlas was moving on to his third piece of the plan he came across a very elaborate building. Reading the plaque on the side of the building it said.
"Architect guild"
"Hmmm later maybe" was the only thing Atlas said.
Moving on, he again asked for directions but to the library, it took 30 minutes to find the place. The building was a tall circle tube with a rectangle joined at the base, entering the library the coldness hit Atlas it was just a little bit colder than outside but the cold was all around the library.
Talking to the receptionist Atlas found out that to withdraw a book he need to pay a fee to join the library or do favours for the library, Atlas decide to pay 5 silver for the privilege of joining and checked out 5 books recommended by the receptionist. Atlas asked for a book not too hard, this part was going to be an experiment.
The forth piece of the plan involved some help but Atlas had a plan inspired by the NPC in the Royal Road Tutors guild, he didn't know where to ask or whom to ask so he just asked a person at a stall selling baked potatoes and meat on a stick.
"Excuse me sir" asked Atlas.
The stall owner responded "yes sir, what is your treat"
Atlas answered back "just a bit of information if you please"
"If you buy something my time is yours" the man tending the stall said.
Atlas pulled out 30 copper and asked " I'll have one meat stick and two hot potato, now tell me where can i hire some people to work for me"
"Well the best will cost you and you'll need to sign a contract with the mercenary guild but if your running low on cash or just cheap go to the orphanage, any child of age 16 needs to find work and support them self. That will be 45 copper sir"
Atlas pulled the extra 15 copper out of his pocket and reached out keeping his fist closed until the question was answered completely "where are both of those places"
The stall owner looked hard at the fist and answered "the mercenary guild is just a bit behind the mages guild, that big pointy tower over there and the orphanage is located in the slums which is in the west part of the city. Its the only stone building over there, they all live in wooded shacks over there"
Opening his hand Atlas placed the cash in the man's hand and took the meat and two veg, walking off he had made his choice to go to the slums. He didn't want to sign anything plus the money he had was for tutors, if the experiment was unsuccessful he didn't want to be stuck with a contract crippling him.
Walking though the slums the first thought that came to him was there's so much potential but that was not why he was here. The orphanage was easy to find, true it was made of stone but it was more like a church than anything, walking into the building was deceiving out side it was huge and grand but in side it was worn out and separated with cheap boards of wood with stacks of bunk beds.
Raising he's voice Atlas said "EXCUSES ME IS ANYONE HOME"
Many eyes looked back over and between the wooden slabs, then a voice came from the side.
"Yes" Atlas turn and spotted a lady coming forward.
The lady was dressed in a completely back dress but had a pair of trousers on as well.
"Hello my name is Atlas and I'm looking to hire some people, maybe 4" explained Atlas.
The lady was smiling, she then started to speak.
"That's good, my name is Shara I'm one of the orphanage organizers we look after the children here, find and receive donation and arrange jobs for the older children. Let me call the children of age"
Atlas stood around waiting, Shara called for the kids, three kids turned up 2 boys and a girl.
Atlas asked "can they read"
"Yes, I've made sure of that" replied Shara
"Good, what are your names" asked Atlas.
The tallest one piped up and said "my name is Dracken and my aim is to be wealthy so i can bye my very own home"
Then the girl with flaming red hair answered "I'm called Mary and i want to be a blacksmith"
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Finally the third child responded "hello, my name is Kevien and I'm going to be famous"
Atlas was feeling nervous, even though these children were NPC they still looked real and acted on their hopes and dreams.
Atlas had a plan and decide to stick to it, turning to Shara he said "how much to hire them"
"That's up to you and them but listen i would see it as a favour if you could bring them up as best as you can and teach them so they can live a good life" asked Shara.
"DING"
The Three Apprenticeships.
Shara has asked you to raise Dracken, Mary, and Kevien
with the intent of them becoming happy with them self and leading a good life.
Difficulty: Unknown.
Quest requirement: Failed if any of your apprentices are killed.
Thinking about the quest Atlas was feeling almost sick, this whole situation reminded of his days as an apprentice at a building site and the fact he was an orphan. His gut was saying no while his heart was aching yes, in the end he agreed to the mission due to the facts that if he got to attached he could just leave it wasn't over the top important, it wasn't even real.
You have accepted the quest
"So what kind of money are you looking for" Atlas ask the apprentices,
The children were talking with each other turning to look at Atlas Dracken said "50 copper a day and our meals included per person and place to stay"
"Fine but any money or items earned will be pooled together and I'll decide what to do with it" said Atlas.
"Mmmm that's fine by me but i would like the choice of changing the deal every month" said Mary.
"Me too" said Kevien.
"All right that's fine by me as well" Dracken said.
Atlas clapped his hands "that's good lets get started, go and grab your things say your good byes then come here, I'll give you one and a half hours"
One hour forty five minutes later, they were ready. Dracken, Mary and Kevien said there good byes to Shara and followed after Atlas.
With the final part of his plan finished he started to bring it together.
As Atlas moved to the tailors to pick up his boots followed by his apprentices, he explained that he him self was a beginner and that they all would be learning together.
"Don't worry i do have the money to pay you" Atlas explained.
"Wait , show us some money" Dracken said out loud.
Without stopping Atlas pulled out of his pocket 4 silver and showed the kids.
"Great, that's good news. For a sec i thought you couldn't pay us and that you were just a bum looking for a free labour" Dracken explain.
Entering the tailors Atlas cued up once again, soon Atlas received his boots and started to put them on, they felt good. The right amount of weight and the solid feeling that it offered, Atlas tapped the shoes on the side of the desk.
"No protection at all" muttered Atlas but what could he do.
Looking down and testing his new boots he noticed that the kids were equipped with what looked like cardboard shoes, taking pity on them he ordered three sets of the same boots one for each of his new apprentices. They weren't cheap for this level but still the price was easily to forget with the amount of gold he had.
With the apprentices and there stipulation about feeding them he then went to the market and bought bread fruit and a little bit of dried meat, enough to last 4 days. The total came to 80 coppers, the different prices between the meat and veg stall and this place was huge. Atlas put it down to preparing of the food.
Atlas thinking out loud said "perhaps i or one of the kids could learn how to cook in the long term it would save lots of cash and in the short term money would still be saved.
It was now mid-day and Atlas and co entered the training hall, it took Atlas more time to get there than normal due to his boots.
Greeting the instructor Atlas said "good afternoon sir, I'm here to do some training to increase strength"
"Well just pick a weapon and strike the scarecrows over there" said the instructor.
Atlas thanked the instructor and moved off but then stopped and turned to the instructor.
"Can my apprentices join" asked Atlas.
The instructor said with out any pause "yes of course"
Atlas thanked the instructor again and moved to the weapons.
In real life Ben had been learning Aikido to stop his loneliness, after two years he had got to brown belt. At first he had problems with the martial art. Aikido is about evasion, intercepting strikes so they lose the power and then using the opponent strength against them self. The sword is used but so is a stick about 1.2 meters high called a jo, Ben had a difficult time because at first he used his physical strength to over power when Aikido is about skill and techniques.
Back in the hall Atlas picked up a spear there appeared to be no jo around, the spear was about two meters tall and made out of wood even the tip. It would do for now, calling over the kids they gathered over to him.
"OK kids i will be practising Aikido and the 30 steps of jo work" Atlas stared to explain.
"What's that" Mary asked suddenly.
"It's the steps of jo/stick work done for Aikido a martial art from where I'm from " Atlas stared to explain about Aikido.
After 20 mins Atlas was a bit excited, he started to feel like he had a purpose out side of work and teaching was making him happy, he never had apprentices before.
"So this is how i want things done, i want two of you to follow what i do and the third to read this book out loud so we can hear it" Atlas was hoping that intelligence and wisdom would rise by listening to books and new information.
"And every hour we swap over the reading, ok... ok lets get started" Atlas striked the scarcrow.
4 hours had passed and things were going swimmingly, Atlas hit the scarecrow in the neck then taking a side step while lifting the spear to protect the head and shoulders from a attack, then swinging the spear around and hitting the scarecrow on the side of the head and then striking down like a sword going though the shoulder. Atlas brought the spear back to the waist then trusting the spear forwards to hit the diaphragm and retreating while taking a side step and blocking upwards again. Every now and again Atlas would bring the spear back to his waist and slide it down between his hands to strike behind him then he repeated the same thing but on he's left side.
Atlas had stopped, the reason he had stopped was because of a thought to make training better
"OK kids food time, you eat and drink take a break, I'm just going to go and get some things" Atlas walked off.
The instructor had been watching the freedman training, he had mixed feeling about this man. On the one hand he used a spear in a odd way that he hadn't seen a anyone do before, normally he would witness freedmen attack the scarecrow until they got there weapon mastery. Then there was the fact this freedman had taken in city born apprentices, but even though this impressed him a little he couldn't get over his prejudice of the spear. In the eyes of the instructor the spear was for weak minded people who wanted to stay away from attacks with the long reach of the spear.
Then the freeman came up to the instructor.
"Hello again, could i maybe change the scarecrow to help with my training" the freedman had asked.
"Mmm i don't see why not, they are only straw so it shouldn't matter to much" answered the instructor.
The instructor watched the freedman leave " i wonder what's he up to"
A short time later the freedman was back with a bag of things that looked like tools, wood and three pairs of boots which he gave to his apprentices.
30 minutes after he started to modify he had finished.
The instructor moved over to see what the freedman had done.
End of chapter 2: Boots Books And Helping Hands