Lenyet responded with a grin, “You really are new. Yes, some form of compensation is expected. Typically it can come in three forms, but through the centuries I am sure there have been many arrangements. First and most straight-forward is a cash remuneration for each lesson. Second would be a multi-level apprenticeship. If, for example, I were a blacksmith, I could have you work in my shop. That would provide direct value to me, as well as provide you with many hours of experience per week. And the third, should the master and apprentice get along very well, is to become partners.”
“He means sex,” Carrie helpfully clarified.
“No, I mean partners,” Lenyet countered. “In martial and adventuring endeavors, there is no blacksmith or alchemy shop to apprentice at. A master and apprentice can spend a lot of time outside of towns, and bonds of friendship, trust, and, yes, physicality, tend to develop. The apprenticeship is still the major factor, but life includes more than training.”
Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Arrjee, were all listening to this as if he were describing how to rinse out a mop. Carrie was merely exhibiting mild interest. This discussion was not surprising to them in the least. He was describing something that was every-day knowledge to them, a natural part of their culture.
I guess it’s part of mine too. But I have a question.
“Can I ask how such a partnership can work if one member is male and one female? Won’t the possibility of pregnancy become an issue?”
Grandma started laughing, and everyone was smiling. “Lenyet was correct. You truly are a pup, grandson. First of all, even on Earth, I am sure males and females knew how to pleasure each other without risking pregnancy.”
“Yes, and should, um, mounting be desired, condoms were easily available.”
There is a Covargh word, so they exist on Heere too. Bring condoms with you into war or a dungeon campaign?
“I don’t believe anyone sells condoms in Cottages,” Mom said, “although they are available in larger towns. Level 0s manage to both have fun and avoid pregnancy in numerous ways.. But you aren’t Level 0, and I have been a horrible mother.” She smiled at me. “You have been leveled for four days, and I have never ensured you learned Infertility.”
“You are using the word Infertility as if it might be a common aetherial skill,” I deduced.
Grandma responded, “Yes, it is. Or technically they are. Anyone casting Infertility can avoid the possibility of pregnancy for a little over a day. A male ki user devitalizes his sperm. A female ki user does the same to any ovulated eggs and any soon to be. Mana users do the same, but cast Infertility on their partner instead of themselves. It is an easy skill to learn. I’m sure Arrjee would love to teach you, but he’s not Level 1 yet.”
“I could try! And if he doesn’t figure it out the first time, we’d just have to try again.” Arrjee said cheekily.
Dad said, “I’ll teach you later, son. Or your master could. As a fellow ki-user it would probably be easiest with him.”
This all sounds very intimate.
Very. I looked it up. You should have fun.
“But Dad is 33. And Lenyet is 27.”
And neither is from Cleveland. And even if they were, Jacques was 57.
So, Dad or Master?
“Lenyet, would you have time later to teach me?”
“Yes. I’ll be in Cottages all day, and all day tomorrow as well.”
Weirdly matter of fact. No lascivious attitude at all. Aren’t I worth a little lasciviousness?
I lack sufficient data to answer that. As well as no sexual drive. If it helps, Arrjee believes you are.
“Let’s get back on track,” Lenyet continued. Until such time as I relocate here, the most natural way to pay me will be cash. I will charge 75 bronze per tuesday, plus 10 bronze for transportation.”
That’s less than half a bear.
“I will not charge for today. I am here as a favor to Master Trillet, and I already earned 44 bronze from the hunt. I don’t think you are the kind to care, but just to clarify – the 75 bronze will not give you exclusive claim to my time. Onre and Kossa have already expressed interest in learning bowmanship, which I will teach for free. Or as part of training you, however you wish to think about it. Also, it is possible that I gain more than one apprentice. In that case your fee would be slightly reduced.”
I quickly checked with Dad, silently asking with my eyes what he thought. He gave a nod, letting me know the terms were reasonable.
“Master, I accept.”
Arrjee informed, “Lenyet, when we have sold the tanned hides, part of the proceeds from that will be yours as well.”
“Thank you, Arrjee. I had assumed as much. One last point, apprentice. I plan to continue this relationship even if I am accepted as an instructor at the adventuring school. We would renegotiate our terms then.”
Seeing that it was getting close to 12:10, the time we agreed to meet up at the school, I suggested to Arrjee and Lenyet that we head over there. They agreed. Arrjee suggested that I probably would not need my belt and knife. I agreed and ran upstairs to leave them in our room.
As we were at the door to leave, another visitor arrived.
“Asha Yon!” Arrjee exclaimed. I didn’t expect to see you, but I am glad you could visit.”
“Hello, Arrjee, Forrest. I have business to discuss with the mayor but would like to meet with you later.” He then greeted everyone else at the house, and Arrjee made sure everyone knew each other.
I said, “We have friends to meet behind the school for further training. If you can meet us there, you would be welcome.” After a brief discussion, we left.
As we started on our way, Arrjee let us know that his Master Trillet and Kossa’s and Onre’s Master Thorm had agreed to help in our training today. He said he’d go get his Master and Teacher Dorra Marson, and the other two needed to inform their Master as well. They all ran off, and Lenyet and I walked at a quick pace to the school.
“You should know that Master Trillet prefers an atmosphere of formality during apprenticeship training. When we hunted with him, it was fine to call him Runtel, but here he will be Master Trillet. Same for Master Brune Thorm and Teacher Dorra Marson. So goodbye Lenyet, hello Master Birch.”
“Very well, apprentice. I have not spoken to Dorra in years. At your house, that Asha Yon, he was the guardsman who led your hunt along with Runtel?”
“Yes. Dad, I mean the Mayor, also appointed him to represent the guard and duchy at the adventuring school meeting a week and a half ago. I am guessing he has made full reports and is probably back here to let the Mayor know how that went.”
“You have managed to become very well connected, in what? Four days?”
“Yes, this is the fourth. I have been incredibly lucky, no help from my luck attribute. That started at 6.5. (I’ll explain the half later.) The first person I met was Arrjee, the Mayor’s son. He was in the woods on my first day, not too far from my spawn point. I felt incredibly isolated and ill-equipped as a Level 1 unborn awakened, but Arrjee and now my whole family have opened up the world.”
“That was clear from the moment I saw your river stone armband. Your Mom and Arrjee have them too. I’m sure there is a story to that.”
“Yes, there is. By the way, Asha Yon also received a river stone with us. He had his necklace tucked under his jerkin. Oh, here is the school, Master. We train behind it.”
“We will discuss more of your short history later. It would seem I have acquired an extraordinary apprentice. But then, if Onre is to be believed, he sucks at fighting.”
“Believe it, Master,” I replied with a smile.
----------------------------------------
Arrjee and Master Trillet had already arrived at the school. From their cheerful conversation, I knew that the Senior Master and my Master Birch were old friends, and sometimes adventured together. He was happy that I had formed the apprenticeship bond.
The Masters sent us teens to warm up, and make ten wide runs around the school and adjacent buildings. I was consistently analyzing things as we ran, keeping 40 ki spent so my ki regen would remain constant. I didn’t want to spend too much, not knowing what I would need during the training to follow. On our third lap, the rest arrived, Onre and Kossa finished our run with us. Teacher Marson arrived sometime during our final laps.
As we were finishing them, the Masters and Teacher had been talking and planning our afternoon endeavors. Even though we started late, they scheduled for four hours of training, to end mid-evening at 16.25. In total we ran over 3 miles and all of us were breathing hard by the time we finished at about 12:45. We got some water and walked around to recover our endurance.
Teacher Marson and Master approached. She had learned that First Aid was a known skill, but seldom practiced or taught in the Fifth Duchy. Master added, “I lived in the Fourth Duchy for over a year. The clerics there are predominantly of the Seas and Wisdom. They teach First Aid as a matter of course. The Fifth Duchy clerics are mostly of Honor. They consider First Aid to be a minor skill that can cause more damage than it helps, and they believe it is better for an injured person to wait for a healer or potion than to risk having an amateur cause more damage.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I asked, “But what if healers and potions won’t be available for the foreseeable future?”
“I am not defending their position, just stating what it is. I believe the clerics of the Fourth Duchy are right about this. Honor’s clerics do not try to forbid the use of First Aid; but they neither teach nor discuss it.”
Teacher Marson adds, “Hence, unless someone skilled in First Aid happens to spend significant time in one of our villages, no one learns it. Our former cleric, Harron Ronvaldt, had ample opportunity to teach it, but he never did.”
Arrjee interjected in a stage whisper, “He spent his time in other pursuits.” Onre inquired as to what he meant, and Arrjee explained why Harron had been fired. “If he had stuck with leveled teens, probably no one would have said anything. He, however, did not, and he did not often.”
I had to ask, “Did you…?” In response, Arrjee merely smiled.
My first session was with Teacher Marson again. Since Master also had the Teacher class, he remained with me for general education. They barely knew each other and took a moment in acquainting themselves. Master was not a full-time teacher, but he did substitute occasionally, both in River and another village.
We went and sat under the same tree as we had last Tuesday. I started with a history question again, curious what the nations were like before the kingdom was formed. From behind me, I heard a young voice ask, “Can I answer?” I turned around to see the 11 year old cub, Norrus Loruste, who had trained with us before. I greeted him, and introduced him to Master Birch.
“Norrus, I am happy to see your willingness to continue your education on a Tenthday,” greeted Teacher Marson. “You are welcome to stay and let us know what you remember of pre-kingdom history.”
He sat down in the grass with us. “Before the duchies, there were seven nations, and they weren’t duchies. Two were actual kingdoms, and there were republics and dictatorships, too. They all had different names. The Fifth Duchy called itself ‘Deep Woods’ and was a republic.”
“Excellent, young pup,” responded Master. You were correct about there being two kingdoms. There were three republics in total as well as two dictatorships.”
I wondered aloud, “On Earth, dictatorships are evil, at least in our modern history. They would oppress everyone in their country except certain elite groups, and tended to be very militaristic, often with militaries much larger than their nations could afford without taking over and impoverishing nearby countries. The military and a corrupted police, were the only things that kept the dictator in power. Well religious and nationalistic fervor would get them in power, and the ignorant held on to that and claimed that the dictator was great and good even as their children often went hungry.”
Teacher commented that Earth sounds like an awful place. I said that only a few dictatorships remained, but there was always a danger that another nation would go astray. Jacques’ nation had been large and quite free, a republic.
“Apprentice, you can think of dictatorships here as non-royal kingdoms. That is, the dictator had the power (but not the title) of a king. Neither his children nor other family members had any special claim to succeed him. Yes, there was an elite that put the dictator in power, but he did not become like the evil people you describe. Selfish maybe, but the guard would not allow a totally abusive system.”
“Why is it so different here, Interface? Why would the guard not get corrupted?”
I am not an expert in comparative sociology. But a significant factor that comes to mind is attributes, particularly wisdom and intelligence. The average levels on Heere are significantly larger than on Earth.
“Doesn’t that mean that the dictator would be smarter and wiser too, and more dangerous?”
Earth’s Edmund Burke is attributed with the saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (He did not actually originate that, but the point is valid.) On Heere, there appears to be a sufficient number of people willing to act. The various guards have maintained honor and vigilance. Another factor is likely the active benevolence of Heere’s gods.
“Yay, Heere!”
Remember that Heere is atypical. Few interfaced worlds are so harmonious.
Teacher Marson was reminding Norrus, and she assumed teaching me, of the various names of the original nations. “ … was ‘Kingdom of Strength’. The Second Duchy was ‘The Republic of the Free’ …”
I’m going to have to get that written down.
Likely by the time your intelligence is 26 you will remember a list like this in one hearing.
“Maybe, but my 19 intelligence isn’t there yet.”
When they were done listing the old names, she asked him if he remembered anything else about the old nations. “Well, I remember three of them were mostly Covargh, three were mostly Human, and one of them, us, was split pretty even. Maybe that was why the first king was the president of Deep Woods, even though he was never a king before. His wife was queen at first, until sometime later all the nations became duchies, and she became duchess instead of queen. She was Human and he was Covargh.”
And with the way kingly succession rotates between the duchies, the racists in other nations wouldn’t panic about the next king being a hybrid. Clever.
I asked, “Is there a book available where I can learn this sort of history on my own? I am interested in it a lot, but I only have a limited amount of formal training time.” Teacher Marson said the school had a small library and on Seventhday I should take a look.
“Interface, does Heere have the printing press?”
Yes, and the books to which she refers are likely so-printed.
My “letters, numbers, and world” instruction lasted half an hour. It was mostly the latter, because they realized I had a good grasp on letters and numbers.
The next phase of my instruction consisted of actual martial arts training, with Norrus acting as a junior apprentice. Since Master Birch was new here, and everyone had some interest in close martial fighting, we had an audience. They were mostly attentive, with occasional shouts of encouragement or good-hearted jeers.
Master was very familiar with Ki Punch and Dodge. He had received them at Level 1, just as I had. At Level 2 he had not been granted Claw Strike, though, and had instead received Athletic Kick. My biggest weakness was not in my granted powers, but my general ignorance in fighting. He was happy that I had received some balance training, but we spent the first 20 minutes on various stances.
Three of them were opening stances, to ready yourself for the kind of battle you might expect. The fourth he showed me was a general recovery stance. The final one was an honorable surrender. If I were seriously injured fighting an honorable foe, and there were no hope of victory or aiding my allies, adopting a still stance of acceptance would not be considered dishonorable on my part.
1. Cat’s Dance Stance – good choice where freedom of movement needed
2. Steady Horse Stance – for a solid defensive posture, foes coming to you
3. Angry Ostrich Stance – aggressive, used against near-equal or weaker foes
4. Phoenix Stance – quickly reassert yourself in battle when knocked off your feet
5. Surrender – if still sufficiently healthy, kneel with head bowed; otherwise remain prone. Considered dishonorable to use as a ruse, but a fair tactic if your current foes had already proven themselves to be dishonorable.
He said there were others, but these were a good set to start with.
Guardsman Asha Yon showed up at about that point. Everyone greeted him, and Master Trillet re-deputized him as a Master for this session. Master Birch thought it would be useful for me to watch two skilled, non-aetherials spar. He had Master Thorm, very skilled in self-defense, and Master Yon, a pure-warrior armsman, face each other with no weapons. Normally they both would at least have knives, but they both had very respectable free-handed skills.
Before their fight began, Master Thorm sang a short bard’s chant, affecting everyone in the area, including Master Yon. (I later learned it only affected allies, and their sparring had not yet begun.) It buffed us with confidence, and added to everyone’s damage resistance. The effects of the chant lasted a half hour.
I watched them for ten minutes, then Master Birch had me fight them one at a time for another ten minutes each. They barely knew of traditional martial arts techniques, but then I didn’t either. Even with them holding back, I found myself on the ground a high percentage of the time.
I was learning a lot, though. My Dodge skill was particularly useful in avoiding blows and attempts to push or pull me to the ground. At its new D rank, it still cost about 11 ki per activation, but now it could be active over 68% of the time, instead of E’s 60%. It didn’t take long, though, for both Masters to recognize when Dodge was active, so I needed to work on my body language to mask that kind of tell. Only I should know when it is not active.
When we were done, Master Birch asked me why I freely used Ki Punch but never Claw Strike. I explained that I didn’t want to really hurt them, and that I didn’t want to make them bleed. “That’s a ludicrous excuse!” he exclaimed. “They are both more than 25 levels above you. Even if you did manage to get a deep swipe in, so what? They have more health and HP Regen than you have ever dreamt of. You have skills, and I expect you to use them all.”
You cannot train what you do not use.
“sigh”
“That said, you are doing well in utilizing your Dodge, apprentice. It appears your perception has not reached 20 yet. At 20 and Rank D, Dodge begins allowing you to avoid unseen blows. Not often at these low levels, but any blow that misses is a plus for you and a minus for your foe. To help you learn how to mask your moves, I recommend learning a card game called ‘Straight Face’. While on the surface it is primarily a game of luck, it can teach you both to discern when others try to deceive you, as well as help you to deceive others.”
Like Poker! I never knew we had cards.
You never asked.
“Is lying a skill?”
No, but Deception is.
“Thank you. I will learn and start playing it.” Then I asked him, based on an earlier discussion with Captain Pokka, “Since you know my Dodge is at Rank D, does that mean your Analyze is at B already?”
“Yes. “ he answered with a grin. “With my particular classes, knowing both the dangers in a dungeon and a classroom is particularly useful. I spent a lot of time training it as I also practiced Martial Arts and Dark Sight. Three for one.”
Right. It’s starting to get dark.
I turned on my Dark Sight. There was still a lot of light, so I’m not sure I would be ranking it yet, but it would at least already be on as the sun descended further.
For the remainder of our training, I got more time punching and scratching at Master Trillet’s walls, usually one legged. We also did more wrestling, and in one of the rounds I came close to beating Onre. My skill had improved a little, but I think most of it was due to gains in agility and strength. He’ll be leveled before long, so his attributes will be advancing too. I’ll have to improve my technique if I want to be his equal.
During the final hour, Master had me rank HPR Boost. We would spend about a minute practicing martial arts, and he would punch or kick me to the point of injury, 6-10 points, and then I would activate Boost, then Meditate for a while after ki ran low. I also remembered to keep turning Dark Sight on after meditating. The setting sun made a good reminder. At just about the hour mark:
Achievement: HPR Boost, E
Achievement: HP Regen, C
Achievement: Ki Regen, C
Achievement: First Aid, C
“Woah! Thanks. Why First Aid?”
Jacques knew it at A Rank, but I could only start you at D because none of your other skills were at C yet. Now some are.
“Can I assume Stamina Regen is close to C also?”
You do not need to assume.
SP Regen, D + 1314 / 1334
“Did I really earn all the ranks at the same time?”
No, but I was hoping for a “woah!” or something like it. You did not disappoint.
“I am sorry if I seemed preoccupied for a few seconds, Master. I was just notified that I had ranked four skills.” I explained which ones, and that I was awfully close to Stamina Regen as well.
The others heard, and everyone congratulated me. Norrus was particularly impressed. Master asked how much my HPR Boost had improved.
“Interface?”
Ki Regen: D = 152.28/hour. C = 274.10/hour
HP Regen: D = 16.25/hour. C = 40.63/hour
HPR Boost: F = 3.05x, E = 4.05x
Improvement: 1.04 to 3.46 HP/minute
“I thought it was only 1 per minute before?”
Do not forget the 5% passive Meditate gain.
“I have advanced from barely over 1 HP per minute to almost 3.5. HP Regen alone is over 0.8 HP per minute, not that much lower than my total regen with HPR Boost had been. I’ll also be earning almost 2.5 more ki per minute, so I’ll be able to sustain Boost a bit longer, At 1 ki per second for Boost, not a lot longer, though.”
Both Arrjee and Onre had big smiles. “What are you guys smiling at?” They both stated at the same time, in different ways, “We told you HPR Boost was the way to go!”
Master asked, “What was Forrest’s other choice?” I explained about Share Health. The Masters and Teacher all agreed I had chosen the correct one first.
Master Trillet commanded, “Since Forrest is close to ranking his Stamina Regen, let’s close this session with two more laps, or until he ranks it, whichever comes second. This time everyone ran, including Norrus and Master Yon. In less than one and a half laps it ranked, but I waited until we were almost done with the second lap to announce it. We walked it off behind the school.
“How much did SP Regen improve?”
SP Regen: D = 352 / hour. C = 704 / hour
“That’s worth another ‘woah!’.”
Yes.
Norrus asked me, “It doubled, right?” I answered yes, and that it was 704 per hour now. He sighed. “At Rank E and 8 endurance, I’m only at 132.” But then he looked up and smiled at me, “Look how much better it will get!” I smiled back, but kind of stunned.
Note to self: ‘don’t bitch’.