Connor didn't know what to think. On the one hand, he was really happy because the Reward in his hands more than covered all their expense, combined. On the other hand, it represents more than a year of work. He sighed. The chest itself looked quite like the one he had found in his Seal room. It was made of dark wood, with seemingly no nails or screws to keep it together while still made of several pieces of wood. The lid was simply closed, without any contraption to keep it so. After all, it was meant to be opened.

Within, one would find his own Reward. Their old Master had told them that it could become a contentious point when traveling in a group with unknown Pathers. Someone would begrudge another for their lack of implication, or anything really, and require another share of the loot. Some were also known to downright steal the Reward of another and flee right away. The Path held many dangers, and not all of them were monsters.

The new guy was busy trudging the battlefield along with Xander so he didn't fear much at the moment. His Reward was good, but probably not as great as he had hoped. Sure it was a massive amount of Orbs, most of them were Bright! He also has earned himself a few Jades. The value of an Orb was quite simple to understand. For all six basic Orbs, the dimmest of them were valued at one credit. At a Fuser, one could merge two such Orbs to get a slightly brighter Orb, that was valued two credits. The process could be repeated so long the Fuser himself, or itself if it was an artifact, could handle the charge. All Haven had Fusers, most could fuse Orbs up to the fifth grade, which was called a Bright and was valued at sixty-four credits. The next named denomination was a Luminous, and it was quite rare in the tenth grade and was worth more than two thousand credits.

The Jades were a bit more complicated, as they represented the way to power, and not all Jades were equals. Some Red Offensive Jade were useless to almost everyone and invaluable to others. The same could be said of the other colors. Also, one couldn't know what Ability was contained within without the help of a Reader or an Analyst. Thus, most people simply sold them at a Haven's marketplace against Orbs and then used the Orbs to buy what they needed. Still, as a rule of thumb, a Jade was always at least worth a thousand credits, and sometimes used as such.

Thus, with his two Jade and his dozen or so Orbs, he was already quite rich. And that was their first Challenge completed, ever. He didn't know how many of them they would have to complete before reaching the next Haven, by then he expected to be quite the rich guy. He sighed, daydreaming about all the things he could buy. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the two other Pathers coming back to him.

Suddenly, a big book appeared in the air. "Woah!" exclaimed the new guy, "I did it! I did it! I summoned the Book!" he added, his voice full of youthful excitement, which startled Connor. What's his problem? he frowned.

Connor and Xander exchanged a glance. "Sure you did, mate. Sure you did," said his friend. "Now, let's check out your Reward, okay? And then we're going to give you a name."

Of course! He is a Newcomer! That explains a lot... realized Connor. He had been so focused on the Reward that he had forgotten about that. He looked at the Newcomer, who was still looking at the book with a big smile on his face. Master said they were a rare breed, but most of the time they were quite lucky... Then he frowned. But he is a Newcomer, so he is probably a bit stupid...

He looked forlornly at his Jades, none were Red, so he was still stuck with his lame Abilities. His eyes caught on the bald youth's Seal and his eyes grew wide open. What the hell? almost escaped his mouth. He glanced at Xander and discreetly nodded toward the boy's seal, and his friend just shrugged. What's that supposed to mean? he thought. A shame we don't have another Analysis Talisman on hand...

The young man squealed when he withdrew his hand from the chest, his hands full of Orbs. "So many!" he exclaimed. He turned toward Xander, and asked, "Should I put them all in my Seal?"

Connor was happy not to be the one to answer, and even a bit more put out by the Newcomer's behavior. "Err, it depends. Mostly on what you intend to do. You are a Pather now, and you will have to reach a Haven, sooner rather than later. But once there, either you can stay in the Haven and become a merchant or a crafter or whatever, or you choose to continue on the Path."

Xander peered into the young man's hand, "Can you let me look at what you've got?" he asked. The Newcomer shrugged, and reluctantly agreed, "Sure."

Xander took a few Orbs and looked at them. "You've got a bunch of Bright Orbs, you should at least use one of each color of those. If you look at your Seal, you'll see that you've only got limited space, so there isn't unlimited growth possible through them," he explained. "That's why you need to be careful about what you put in there. Also, once in, you can't get them out. So you need to be sure you want to use them."

The Newcomer nodded thoughtfully, "I see." And mumbled something about "his build". He perked up, "Ah also there is another thing in the chest." But he looked embarrassed, "Do you have a spare purse or something?... My bag isn't quite adapted to carry those. Maybe I can give a few in exchange?"

Connor snorted. Yeah, what the hell is that thing? He could see through the vines that there was a stone, a bunch of apples, and a sheathed dagger. It was a shoddy thing, but it showed that the Newcomer was a bit more crafty than expected. He had probably made it himself. But what's with the stone?

Xander sighed, "Err, not really. Connor?" he asked.

He grumbled. While he didn't have a purse, he could probably tinker one. Damned Seal! He had been so focused on the chest that he had forgotten about it. He sighed, defeated, "I'll see what I can do. And keep your Orbs, it's nothing. Honestly, you could take any of the goblin's loincloth and make a purse out of it." Which seemed to horrify the young man. He snorted. What a wuss... He sat down by the wall, pulled out his backpack, and grabbed some leather and a knife. He looked at the expectant Newcomer, Holy Robert, he is so unprepared... He sighed. He wasn't the most pious, but he had been raised with faith in the Holy Church. If this guy was a Newcomer, then they were duty-bound to assist him.

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He took a bit more leather and some scraps of iron. He needs, at the very least, a pair of boots, a Seal-glove, and a belt to fit his dagger on it. I'm not qualified to make him a leather jacket... He looked at the Newcomer, "Come here, I'm going to need your help." He sighed, totally unenthusiamed. I'm not a leatherworker, nor am I a crafter!

He cut some leather straps, fused them with his new Ability, and quickly fashioned the aforementioned purse. That was the easiest thing. "There, a purse. It's not much, but it should do the trick. You can put your Orbs in there." He sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm not really a leatherworker, so please don't pay too much attention to the shoddy craftsmanship, okay?"

Still, the young man had such round eyes, holding the purse in his hand, Connor couldn't help to become a bit self-conscious. "Wah, so cooooool!" he exclaimed. "I've never seen someone do that before! Is that magic?"

Connor blushed, "Err, no. It's an Ability. I'm a..." he hesitated. Holy Jessica, help me! But no help came from the Heavens. He sighed, "I'm a beginner crafter..." he finished dejectedly.

Which of course surprised Xander, who had been watching the whole thing. "What? You're a crafter?" he asked, incredulous.

Connor nodded, "Yeah, I'm a beginner crafter. I've got a few Abilities, but I'm not really good at it. I'm more of a tinkerer, really." He sighed. He looked at his friend, "Yeah, I've had a shit hand at the Seal's lottery..." Despair flooded him. Saying it aloud somehow made it truer. The dam of his shame cracked, "There is more..."

He folded on himself, "I'm an Ascender Crafter. An Artist..." he shamefully revealed. He couldn't care less that the new guy was here, but he had to tell the truth to his only friend.

There was a few seconds of silence. He couldn't look at his friend in the eyes. He was definitely shocked.

"What's wrong with being an artist?" asked innocently the Newcomer. "What's an Ascender also?"

Holy Jessica, is he blind?! He raged internally. I was meant to become a ranger or an assassin! Or even a Jester, it would have been so great! Not this shitty...

"Right," said Xander still a bit out of himself. "Right, how many slots do you have left? Is it salvageable?" Straight to the point, as always.

The new guy was left out of the conversation, he couldn't assist them. "Three! What the hell am I gonna do with THREE slots?!" he shouted angry now. "And three dozen Orbs. I'm so screwed!"

His friend sat down next to him, "Calm down, mate. We'll figure something out. Can you tell me what you've got?" he asked gently.

He knew he was being a dick right now, but this whole situation was a farce in his eyes. Still, he tried to calm down. "That's just it, everything's cool had been turned to shit by the Seal. Like, I've got a Looting ability. So cool right?! But it loot's SCRAPS," he shouted angrily.

Then he grew agitated, throwing his arms up and down, "Then there is this Analysis Ability, but it only tells stuff about what uses scraps can be. I'm a fucking Scrap Artist! Ever heard of that?!" He heaved, and finished "And what's more, my shiny Purple, Ascender, Jade, is named 'Scrap Animation!' SCRAP! And if that wasn't enough, the Gurtav damned mentoring spirit in there want to build Art!"

Silence settled on the three young men. The Newcomer seemed dumbstruck by the tantrum Connor just made. Xander was deep in thought. He himself tried to calm down. He had to resign himself, there was no salvaging this. But it felt good to let everything out.

"So you can animate, uh, toys?" asked the Newcomer. "Made out of junk, is that right?" The youth seemed to grasp at something from his memory. It was visibly painful. "Argh... I remember, something, from... before." He gasped a bit and continued. "Art is an explosion, what was the bad guy always said." He seemed to have trouble finding his words. It looked like he truly had to physically grasp them out of some depth. "You could build toy birds, and have them explode. That's what he did."

So now, not only am I an Artist, but I should also become a Toymaker?-

"Wait, that's a possible setup?" asked Xander, interrupting his thoughts. "I mean, it's not that bad, right? It would require hefty preparation, but it could be done within the scope of your Abilities, right? It's almost like a Summoner, just with toys instead of monsters. Some sort of Pupeeter or a Golemmancer, maybe?"

Connor looked at his friend dumbfounded. Still, it was his friend there, he had to at least consider his opinion. "Yeah, I guess. But it's still a shitty build. I mean, I'm not even sure I can make it work." He sighed, "I'm not even sure I want to try. I mean, I wanted to go front and be stabby-stabby, not stay in the back and play with toys."

At least, that's a way forward... Toymaking, he wanted to cry. I'm so screwed...

Xander sighed, "I know, mate. I know. But you've got to make do with what you've got. And you've got to make the best of it. You're a Pather now, and you've got to survive. You've got to make it to the next Haven, and then the next one, and the next one." He looked at him, "We're going to stay in this arena a while longer anyway, the Newcomer needs to be taught, at least a bit before we go on. So you've got time to think about it and try to make it work."

"Plus, you've a whole cohort of supply right there", he added pointing back at the goblins. "Maybe you can come up with something. You could try to make him a few toys, and see how it goes."

Connor sighed, "Yeah, I guess..." It's not like he had much choice anyway, the Path was dangerous, and he had to survive. Still, it was unlikely he could come up with a way to make a working puppet that quickly. He looked at the Newcomer, "We've got to find you a name!" he said, trying to change the subject. He looked pleadingly at his friend, "You've got any idea?"

Things were obviously going too quickly for the bald young man, "What?" he asked, confused.

Connor sighed, "You need a name. We can't call you Newcomer, Baldy, or Skinny forever. So we need to find you a name. Do you have any idea?" he asked again.

"Uh. No?" he answered, still confused. "I don't know..." He took the floating book in his arms like a child would take a teddy bear. Guess, that's still a sore point... thought Connor.

Both more experienced Pather looked at the young man, deep in thought. "What about... Tommy?" asked Connor. "You seem to like your book a lot, and it's a good name, right?"

Xander chuckled, "Tommy? Seriously? You're going to call him Tommy?" he asked, amused. "I don't know, it's a bit too on the nose, don't you think?"

"Oh, come on? Doesn't he look like a Tommy to you? Timmy even?" asked Connor.

"Not really no, but we can go on with names in T, if you want," he answered. "What about Terrence? Or Terry? Or even Toto? What was the Master's nephew's name again? Takeshi?"

Beside them, the young man was aghast. "Timmy?!" he exclaimed. "No way! I'm not going to be called Timmy! That's a stupid name!" He looked at the two Pathers, "I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a P-Pather? now. I need a cool name!" He looked at his book, mumbling several variations of Takeshi, "I'm going to call myself... Takeo! Yeah, that's a cool name! Takeo!" he declared, proud of himself.

Connor shrugged, unhappy that his proposition hadn't been seconded, but he could live with that. "Okay, Takeo it is then. Welcome to the Path, Takeo!" he said, smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Takeo," added Xander, smiling too. He tapped the young man's shoulder, "Didn't you say there was something else in the chest?"