“So, next we’re going back to the adventurer’s guild?” Sam asked, a bit confused.

“Yes, so, on the other side of the guild is the training grounds for new adventurers. Not a lot of folks use it, preferring to fight gobs in the dungeon, but it’s a good place to develop and hone your skills. I contacted my party while we were at Lazaren’s and they’re on their way there now.” Rubio replied.

“Oh sweet, who are your party members? Any cool classes?” Sam asked, excitement brewing.

“Oh, well, you’ll see soon I suppose,” Rubio responded mysteriously. “I think my class is the coolest, but there are quite a few interesting ones in my party. Hurry up and you can find out which ones.”

With that, they both hurried back towards the guild hall through the less-crowded streets. Most of the people they saw now were merchants and people leisurely strolling through the streets, rather than the busy adventurers they had seen around here earlier.

Once they had reached the guild hall, they walked around the building to the north and arrived at a coliseum-looking structure with a few separate pits and seating. “Seems more like a gladiator area than a training ground to me…”

Making their way to one of the pits, a large (Cursed Paladin - Level 38) joined them and started talking to Rubio. “Hey boss, is the child behind you the runt we’re going to train today?”

“I can hear you, and I’m 16,” Sam growled at him.

“Aww, such a cute little tiger cub. Baring its’ baby fangs!” the paladin teased him.

“That’s enough Riord, cut the kid some slack. He has potential but we’re going to get nowhere if you rile him up.”

“Yeah, yeah, I gotchu boss. We’ll make sure he’s nice and tough before he fights some gobs. Need to make sure your pet project can live through the week.”

Sam grimaced internally and tried his best to keep his attention focused on walking forward. He didn’t like this guy, the man was too antagonistic for his taste.

As they walked, Riord slipped into idly chattering about what had been going on around town. Sam didn’t pay much attention until he heard something that made him a bit sick to his stomach.

“Oh right, did you hear someone supposedly beat all the enemies in the tutorial? The last time I think that happened was you.”

“Yeah, apparently a level 3 challenger with the Mirrored Scholar class did it. I would love to meet them in person, wouldn’t you?” he glanced at Riord and then at Sam.

Realization dawned on Riord’s face a second later. “I see what you mean now by potential, boss man.” The rest of their walk to the pit was in silence, Riord throwing random looks back at Sam.

Sam would rather do without the attention on his tutorial feat, but at least the paladin was leaving him alone now.

A few minutes later, they entered the dirt arena Rubio had reserved and found 6 figures waiting for their group. Unlike Rubio and Riord, it seemed most of them had a more interesting fashion sense. Especially the guy in the back in a multi-color outfit with feathers.

Looking around, he inspected the text over all of their heads and saw their levels were all between 37 and Rubio’s 41.

“Hey squad, looks like we’re all here. No time like the present for introductions, I’ll go first. You already know me, kid, but I’m Rubio. I’m the leader of our party, we’re called ‘Iced Latte’.”

Sam cracked a smile at the party name. “Iced Latte, huh? Am I supposed to believe you’d name your party that?”

“Oh, how I wish it were a joke. You see, Slimo over there.” Rubio pointed at a mage in a dark robe, “He thought it was a funny idea to change our agreed guild name in our paperwork when we submitted it, thinking we could change it later. Only, it turns out you can’t.”

The robed man stepped forward and Sam saw the text over his head read (Special-type Summoner - Level 39), “Sub-leader Slimo here, and yeah… that story is a bit of a sore point with old blondie, a harmless joke gone terribly wrong! If only magic could solve every problem, huh? Either way, we’re excited the boss found something to dis-” Sam saw Rubio shoot him a look “er, someone new to help cultivate. Good to guide the next generation, y’know? Share our wisdom.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I guess I’m next, Riord the tank. Uh… yeah, I let things hit me so my party can hit them. My defenses are impenetrable, tiger cub.” Riord flexed with that statement, causing Sam to roll his eyes.

Next, a woman in a dark green leather getup stepped forward, (Jungle Huntress - Level 38), “I’m Carrie, don’t mix me up with this lot. I handle distant targets and serve as the party’s scout, finding traps and tracking monsters. I’m the most normal of us, I promise. Nice to meet you, freshie.”

Next came a man with two short swords on his hip and a dark grey ninja-looking outfit, (Shadow Lord - Level 40). “Assassin. I’m Oren. Hi.”

Two people stepped forward next, a pair of androgynous-looking twins in their early 20s that both had a single sword strapped to their hips and a shield on their backs. Over both their heads read (Sacred Warrior - 37). “I’m Hark, he’s Kalor. We’re twins and sword masters.” the right one said. The left one nodded.

“Andddd that leaves best performance for last!” the last member stepped forward, “I am Ferdin, the bard. I buff, heal, sing, and dance. What’s not to love?” the boy a little older than Sam flashed a smile and gave a thumbs up. This was the one in the colorful outfit. Looking over his head, Sam saw (Playwrite Maestro - Level 38).

As they looked at him, waiting for his introduction, an internal battle raged on. “How is Rubio the most normal person in his party… He just seems like a rugged dude, but all of these people are weird. What is this, a circus?”

“Hello, members of Iced Latte,” he said while trying to suppress a laugh, “I am Sam, role unknown. I’m hoping to learn from all of you.” Nodding at Rubio, he waited for the man to take over. Sam wasn’t that comfortable in social situations, he preferred to stay in the background whenever possible.

“You heard him folks. We’re here to guide him into the unknown today. I’d like Riord and Oren to take the first stab at teaching him skills, and then we’ll work through the rest of you in the future. The goal today is to give him some beginner skills he can develop while solo running the first floor. He only has three open slots, so we'll focus on giving him two versatile skills.

“This might take a minute, but if things go well, we’ll be able to see rapid growth from him. You'll all get your chance to mentor him, but for now Riord and Oren you should pick skills to teach him.”

With that, everyone except Oren and Riord ascended the stairs and took seats in the stands around the pit. “Why did it have to be Riord of all people?” he cursed his luck.

“Hey tiger cub, Rubio already explained how your skill works. You just need to observe and understand our skills, right? Have you tried it on anything yet?”

And of course, Rubio laid his soul bare for his party. At least none of them seemed outright malicious…

“No, not yet. I didn’t have a chance in the tutorial and I’ve been with your fearless leader until now. I don’t have a single idea for how it works, it’s not very explained.” Sam replied.

“Purrfect, let’s try it out on something easy first then. It’s called Equip, it allows me to move items from my inventory onto my body almost instantly. Let me know when you’re ready for a demonstration.” the man flexed again, to Sam’s dissatisfaction.

Giving him a thumbs up, Riord took his position in front of Sam and did some stretches before shouting “Equip!”, causing his body to explode with a burst of light. In a flash, his plate armor transformed into a set of leather armor and Riord’s shield and sword found themselves now in his hands.

“See? Easy, right?” Riord said, gesturing for Sam to give it a try.

“I have absolutely no idea how to do that, but I guess I can try?” Sam sighed and tried to visualize his items leaving his inventory and replacing his current gear. “Equip!”

He felt a trickle of energy move in response to his voice, but nothing happened. He felt that he didn’t understand the skill enough to do anything with what he had seen, it wasn’t that simple to learn a skill. Maybe that was why it was called epiphany?

“Well, that was a dud. Maybe I need to understand it more. How does the skill work? Can you read the description? What does it feel like? Anything helps.”

“So many questions, little tiger. One at a time. Here’s the description.” Riord replied.

Equip (Uncommon)

An active skill that exchanges your equipped gear for stored or stowed gear. The more equipment you exchange, the higher the mana cost of this skill.

“As for how it feels… it feels like my intent pushes out from my body, once it covers my skin it swaps my gear to my wishes. It’s supposedly low-grade spatial magic, but all tanks pick it up eventually. I don’t know more of the technical details, cub.”

“How do tanks usually pick it up?” Sam asked curiously.

“When you’re breaking shields faster than you can comfortably replace them, that extreme pressure is great for skill development,” Riord said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Right… can you show me the skill again?” Sam asked, curious to see if he could spot anything this time around now that he knew how it worked.

“Equip!” Riord shouted again, and the same glow overtook his body. Sam’s eyes were glued to that light, he watched it expand from Riord’s core and overtook his limbs. As the glow quickly spread, Riord’s armor, shield, and sword vanished and were replaced by normal clothes like he had seen around the town.

Musing to himself, Sam thought he kinda got it. “I don’t know much about mana yet, is that what the light is?”

“That's what I've heard, cub! The skill supposedly works by unconsciously pushing mana out through my channels and then pulling it back into my body. Slimo once said the mana contact surface on my gear does this or that to cause the effect, I don’t remember the details.”

“Do it again, please,” Sam asked respectfully. He might not like this guy that much, but this was a chance to learn what seemed like a versatile skill.