“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…

what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” – Socrates

Zach was laid out in the grass trying to gather his breathe. Half of his mind was thinking he should try and get up just so he could get off a damn rock that was poking into his side, while the other half of his mind was in agony over the inferno in his thighs and just wanted the pain to end. Grim, however, was a little flame dancing in front of his face singing Eye of the Tiger. All

Zach could do was turn his head and say, “Fuck…. You!”

Grim started laughing like crazy, slowly his chuckles died out and he finally spoke, “Listen when you woke up today what kind of training did you expect to receive? What you thought Andy was going to teach you spear forms and you could kill thousands of helpless fluffy boony hoppers? Well your words and thoughts fall on deaf ankles now.” At the insult Zach growled between breathes, if he wasn’t for the sharp stabbing pain in his thighs he was sure he would have thought of decent comeback.

Alexa’s leather work boots slammed down on Grim and Zach had to smile as she took of running another lap around the village. Evil thoughts about Alexa came to Zach’s mind that he wanted to yell at the girl. Of course, Grim simply reappeared infront of his vision. “Oh come on Zach… Listen first off, you have to stop thinking with your dick about Alexa. Its clear that she likes James and if you really think about it, your feelings about her don’t involve anything more than seeing her naked. If you could control yourself you might figure out that James is a pretty decent guy.” Zach snort at Grim’s last comment.

Thinking back to this morning, Zach remembered checking on the fields and checking for insects or leaf damage on the crop as the sunrise began to peak over the horizon. Andy had some kind of mage light that had followed him around the fields, giving Zach enough light to do his work if he stayed close. Grim had told him that was a dungeon light upgrade for his grimoire. It seemed like most dungeons offered Grimoire upgrades as prizes for defeating the first boss. Showing Zach the Divine Store entry for it, he realized that for Dungeon Divers this was a perfect upgrade as it would replace torches and only use a little of the casters mana.

Once the sun was up, Andy brought Alexa and Zach close to the edge of ward stones. There they were met by a young boy that looked like he was a movie star playing at a medieval pleasant. Zach thought of the movies like Princess Bride or A Knights Tale and realized that James could have been a main character with his black hair and piercing blue eyes. The thing of it was, Grim wasn’t completely wrong. James had greeted them both with warmth and good nature. What had pulled at Zach’s core was how Alexa bubbly spoke to him about what happened last night, and just like that Zach disliked James.

Just at that moment James barefoot crunched down in front of Zach’s face. Zach turned his head to see that James was holding out his hand with a small smile of pity. “I know it hurts Zach. It took me almost a month of running to obtain the skill, but each time you push yourself beyond your limits mana channels slowly grow.”

Grim had told Zach the same thing. In fact, he had told him that he was extremely lucky, because unlike everyone else Grim could focus on developing Zach’s mana channels and the skill probably come sooner. However, it all came with a catch. Zach couldn’t you restoration potions or heal skills to help heal the fatigue of his legs. Apparently, the mana channels could only be infused during natural healing, healing aided by mana would block any progress. However, Zach waved off James hand. Shrugging James took off at a run to continue his training.

“Well that was stupid. Not only do you look like an asshole, but you are going to have to get us soon and keep moving to avoid the cramps that you muscles are going to go through. So let’s continue on our discussion… basically I am going to cut through all the bullshit that you are telling yourself. No you aren’t in love with Alexa. Right now you have a bunch of hormones telling you that pretty girl should be yours and that James is your natural rival. So you instantly dislike him, that all just in your head. If you had looked around the village there is the possibility of another pretty girl around here, and even if there isn’t one. In a few years you will be going to a Dungeon Town which most of them have young woman you can try to get to know. Hell, most have slavery and if you want we can purchase a young pleasure girl for you.”

Zach seemed so shocked at the suggestion that he quickly turned his head to Grim. “Grim, I don’t want to take advantage of some slave girl or rape her.” Taking his hands and doing pathetic push up, Zach began to put himself into a crawling position. His thighs seemed shaking as he put weight on them.

“Zach,” Grim said with a voice filled with silent patience, “the world of Argos is based on the simple concept that the strong rule the weak. Every City Core eventually becomes a City State, and they all determine their own laws. Slavery by your frame of reference is horrible, and yes there are nobles and masters that do horrible things to their slaves. However, I imagine that since Andy and Milly were slaves previously they won’t allow the creation of slave contracts in their City, and you can always release the girl from her contract.”

Struggling up on his own two feet, Zach had to grit his teeth hard before finally taking a step forward. “You make is sound so normal, I know you can see into my mind and the history of slavery. How could you suggest such a thing to me?”

Grim sighed, “Zach, these are the realities of this world. What are you going to do, kill every slave owner? Start a rebellion? The problem is that slaves do not get any experience or mana per their contracts. So even if you raise an army and attack a City, the lord or several councilmen could kill all of you with a spell, or in some cases a flick with their sword. That is the power you are against, and not even Andy or Milly will risk war with another City.”

It was an almost pathetic shuffle instead of a true walk that Zach could even manage. Even though his legs were burning, he understood that if he didn’t move now his legs would likely seize up and force him to laid in the grass and dirt for hours. “So what I bought the upgrade for you to make Contracts. Does that mean I will be making new slaves from Elementals?”

Grim snorted and his small flame seemed to burst with a flicker of light. “Magical Contracts can only exists between beings or items of mana and sentient creatures. Most slaves are bound to a city core or a mana stone that way experience and mana can be transferred to the city or stone for safety reasons. When two sentient creatures form a magical contract, they share experience, mana, even thoughts and by doing so the often times become insane. So when we summon a golem, we invest part of your stats into the golem at its creation so it will have a mind. The contract is how much mana and experience does it gain and how much does it give you from a kill. That’s why the summoner class doesn’t have an army of golems, now every ten levels he does get a summons for free, but if you need another one you pay in stats.”

Zach became very quiet as he walked around the warding stones. A golem required stats which made sense as to why mages could summon elementals for a short period of time, but a golem could be permanent. Looking ahead Zach saw James and Alexa staring past the ward stones out into the fields. Each second seem to draw out as he finally made saw what the two were looking at. Andy stood in an over gown field of grass, while four long polished silver chains seemed to be whipping about Andy as he went through a series of moves. The chains were wrapped about his arms and as he moved to punch, the chains snapped out with dagger blades at the end of them. They seemed to cut the heads of the grass stalks, as Andy moved his left hand in a wave. Two more chains dance above the grasslands as heavy metal cylinders at their ends flashed in the air.

It was almost without warning there seemed to be a rustle in the grass. Two Horned Rabbits jumped out of the grass. One of their horns were dark just like the one that Zach had killed, but the other horns were yellow and as Zach watched the yellow rabbit a flash seemed to teleport mid jump almost one foot away from Andy. Yet Andy was faster, his right fist came crashing into Horned Rabbits head, the sound of a loud crack came to Zach’s ears as yellow rabbit dropped down dead. Then Andy, with the flick of his left wrist, caused the chains to wrap around Dark Horned Rabbit as the two cylinders flipped around crushing its skull. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but Zach had just seen a display of power that surprised him. The first Horned Rabbit that Zach had faced nearly killed him, and Andy had faced two of them without breaking a sweat.

The wrinkles in Andy’s face seemed to become deep furrows as the chains started glow with a black and red hue. Four more spots in the grass began to shake as the Horned Rabbits quickly understood that the hunted had now become the hunter. As grass seemed to move with the Rabbits running for their lives, Andy slowly began to reel back the chains until their entire length wrapped around his arms like some kind of armor. Calmly he walked over to the Horned Rabbits and picked up their bloody bodies up by the hind legs. The dark aura of death and destruction never left Andy until he crossed the border of the ward stones. Once passed, he looked over at the three of them and smiled. “Seems like we have rabbit for the stew pot tonight!”

Grim whispered excitedly into Zach’s ear, “And that’s how its done, Son!”

Zach had to snort at Grim’s use of urban slang and Quotes, and Andy gave him a brief look before Zach covered up his brief laugh. “I was just thinking that we were going to need a bigger stew pot.”

Andy laughed, “Aye lad, I like where your head is at, but I will giving the majority of meat to the rest of the village. Now it looks like the majority of you are done running laps. Tell me, Alexa, why do I have you and Zach trying to learn the running skill?”

Alexa rolled her eyes at her father before answering him, “Running is the most basic skill a Dungeon diver can have. Upon obtaining level 50 in Running, the skill generates the power called ‘Charge’. The power allows the user to spend a little bit of their mana and run at an incredible speed in a straight line, doubling any damage from their weapon when striking their opponent. It is also the first skill needed for advancement movement powers or high damaging kicks. However, the skill comes with an intrinsic cost, large numbers of Dex and Wisdom are needed to perceive the world around the person. Dexterity increases the person’s reaction time and ability to change direction quickly. Wisdom helps with the perception of the world around the person, allowing mana to speak directly to them and adjusting their course without thought.”

Andy looked at his daughter for a moment longer, before shaking his head. “Aye, they do all those things, but the reason why it’s so important is that sometimes when you are in a bad fight; running is the best way out. Now while I go give these rabbits to Milly so she can loot them. Everyone go get your weapons, we will be going through basic weapon drills until midday then I need to get back to my fields.” Andy smiled and started walking off toward the log cabin. Alexa put her hand into James and for a brief moment Zach felt the stab of jealousy, but he thought back to what Grim had said and decided that if he was going to work with these two then he needed to repair some of the attitude he had shown earlier.

Offering James his other hand so that he didn’t have to stop holding Alexa’s, Zach made his apology. “Thanks for trying to help out today James… I just needed more rest before I could start moving again.”

James smiled and shook Zach’s hand, “No problem, my friend, I know what you are going through. However, I hear that you have the Spear skill! You are going to better off than when I started, Andy had me go through daggers, short swords and even unarmed combat before I gained my club skill, that’s half a year I won’t get back. Still the fighting stick he gave me isn’t too bad and if I concentrate I can cast my healing spell with my left hand.”

Zach took back his hand after the firm handshake he had received. “Oh you have a spell? If it isn’t impolite I was wondering what it is and if you could teach me it?”

James, Alexa, and Zach began walking to the small hamlet clearing. Zach’s legs feeling the burn as James laughed. “Oh, I did what you did. I knew the village needed a healer, so I spent my divine points on the spell ‘Healing Aura’ and the skill ‘Alchemy’. Cost me 90 points to gain that spell, but I have to admit that as a general cure all spell it will do just about anything. I can cast it for 30 mana and heal 10 hit points in 5 seconds or I can invoke it as a ritual and try to cure disease or poison. As for teaching you it, I haven’t gotten my Spell Mastery up to fifty percent yet, but in time maybe.”

Zach wondered about why it would matter that James hadn’t gotten his spell mastery up to 50% when Alexa and him started walking off to grab their weapons. Zach went along with Alexa and picked up his bronze spear from the log cabin. The two horned rabbits were hung up by their hind legs as Milly looked through a blue screen. Being curious Zach stopped out of Milly vision and looked at her blue screen. It seemed to list a bunch of items from the rabbits, but not in the same quantities as Grim got. “Grim,” Zach whispered, “didn’t we get a better return on our looting of the rabbit.”

Zach heard a heavy sigh from Grim, before Milly turned around and looked at Zach. “You know young man that it’s extremely rude to look at someone else’s loot. Additionally, elves have amazing hearing; so who is this Grim you were talking to?”

Zach looked shocked for a moment, and then Grim appeared in full body as light. “Madam, I am Zach’s Grimoire Companion that he has named Grim.” Grim bowed from the waist a lot more graceful then Zach could have ever accomplished. “Madam, please excuse us for the secret, but as Zach is a new bloodline we didn’t wish to take any risks. Also, I have evolved the Auto-loot function, I could simply take care of this for you Madam.”

Milly had a smile on her face as she looked at Grim. “Oh how delightful, a Grimoire Companion! You are so polite, of course I would be very grateful if you can obtain the loot. Please preserve the meat, and any magical components.” Clapping her hands, it almost looked like Milly was a teenage girl once again. With a flash of light the two rabbits disappeared and Cores, Antlers, Hides, and Fresh Meat was placed neatly by Milly. The hides had wrapped up the fresh meat, while the two cores and antlers sat nicely next them. “Why thank you Grim, could I talk privately with Zach?”

Grim bowed again and disappeared. “Well Zach… I am upset, surprised, and even slightly happy at this turn of events. First, I understand why you kept it a secret. However, if we had known that you were a bloodline we probably been a lot more careful with the City Core. Exposing it to you could have caused us some trouble, but it also would have help us with organizing several things. Firstly, I will tell Andy. I suggest you find sometime and tell James and Alexa about Grim sometime. It’s a secret that can break apart a group of divers. Of course, it’s also a secret that can get you killed, plenty of nobles out there that dislike new bloodlines showing up.”

Zach felt his mouth go dry at the thought that he had made enemies already. “Why would they care?”

Milly laughed, “A bloodline companion is the first step of creating powerful mana users. Certain noble families have monopolies over devices or services. The Crest Bloodline are the most powerful teleporters in the midlands. Their companions are able to communicate with one another and they all have a massive knowledge of the terrain thanks to their companions. The Filgrave Bloodline is one of the most massive banking and merchant families. No one expected their children to create teleportation pads allowing massive goods and people to travel grand distances. The Crest Bloodline became almost useless as the portals in major cities became common place. While the Filgrave Bloodline were soon taken over by their offshoot Filcrest line.”

“Now I know you are trying to be an Artificer, so the dwarven bloodlines will be your main competition. The good news is that they don’t care much about other races and their bloodlines. The bad news is that should you create something noteworthy, you will either have noble ladies throwing themselves at you or people trying to kill you.” As Milly finished speaking, Zach wet his lips and wondered if he would ever have to worry being swamped with beautiful women or if he would even create something worth mentioning. Zach stopped for a moment as he realized that he had all of modern civilization he could draw ideas from, all he needed to do was find a major city and see what was out there.