After Elland gave Duncan five books to read, Duncan left him. It was an unfamiliar topic of Mycology which he knew little about. He had a nasty experience with fungi when he first came and he was wary of them ever since. Duncan saw some growing in the forest outside but he made sure to stay well away from them.
Five books on the topic of mushrooms should fix that and probably give him a level up in his Identify skill as well.
Walking down the Main street, Duncan decided to make a stop at the angry dwarf’s place and check what Bolgar had been up to in the days he was home. No sounds were coming from the smithy but the door was unlocked.
Walking inside he found the dwarf sitting at the table admiring his latest creation.
“Good morning,” Duncan greeted to get Bolgar’s attention.
“Ah. Don’t startle me like that,” Bolgar yelled after he jumped from his chair.
Duncan smiled. “What made you this jumpy?” Duncan asked.
“Ya would be jumpy too if that Mayor’s goon visited you. Ya came just in time. I made the upgrade to your sword I promised ya,” Bolgar replied as he handed him the sword he was admiring a moment ago.
Duncan took it from his hand and looked at the silver-colored sword with veins of orange metal that looked like a tree spanning from the handle to every part of the sword edge.
“Looks great. How much do I owe you?” Duncan asked.
“Owe me?” Bolgar asked and waved his hand in dismissal, before he continued, “I still owe you for the help with those shitty swords.”
“Alright. Thank you for the sword then and if you need any more help let me know,” Duncan replied then swung the sword a few times.
“Hopefully I won’t be making any more of those shitty things for a while. This sword actually gave me a level up in Blacksmithing,” Bolgar replied, feeling proud.
“The original enchantment survived the rework?” Duncan asked surprised as he felt the sword accelerate by itself when swinging it.
Bolgar nodded and pointed at a place near the handle. “Yeah. I just covered it up with copper. Now it’s even better since it can’t be damaged without going through the copper layer,” he explained.
“That’s great. I need to go to the barracks now. See you at Wazsh’s in the evening? I’ll buy you a beer,” Duncan replied and saw Bolgar’s eyesight up when he mentioned beer.
“Alright. See you there. Be careful, ya promised me a beer after all,“ Bolgar replied.
Duncan left the smithy and rushed to the barracks when he had a deja vu moment with Petris trying to sneak up on him again. He activated [ Observe ] and leisurely walked forward toward the barracks.
Petris was being extra careful not to startle Duncan but Duncan’s Perception stat has risen too far for Petris’ Stealth skill to keep up. After the [ LOG ] flashed Duncan activated his Observe skill again and continued walking.
As the [ LOG ] flashed again Duncan hollered in Petris' direction, “What’s up Petris?”
Petris stopped moving for a while and pretended he was a mushroom.
“I can see you. If your Stealth is not level 26 don’t bother,” Duncan once again hollered.
He could see Petris’ shoulders sag as he deactivated Stealth and came closer.
“You finally came back,” he said as he came within talking distance.
“Yes. I need to talk to Fenris. Do you know where he is?” Duncan asked.
“He should be in his office or in the training field,” Petris replied.
Duncan nodded he understood before he asked, “You use daggers? Do you have a skill for them?”
“Yeah. Dagger mastery. Why the sudden interest?” Petris replied in a flat voice without a hint of enthusiasm.
“Maybe you could teach me?” Duncan asked.
Petris scratched his head, “How? I am not exactly a teacher.”
“You could spar with someone and I could watch,” Duncan explained.
“Ask Fenris. If that’s ok with him we can try,” Petris replied, feeling the notion was a bit silly.
Duncan nodded. “I'll ask him when I see him. Can you meet us at the training field?”
“Sure,” Petris replied and started walking towards the field as Duncan left towards the barracks.
Duncan knocked on the office door and Fenris bid him in.
“You're finally back,” Fenris said with a smile on his face.
“What makes you so happy?” Duncan asked.
“You being back means we can go level up again,” Fenris replied.
Duncan nodded, before saying, “About that. Can you and your guards help me learn some skills?”
Fenris frowned, “Sure but learning a skill is a lengthy process. You should be better off upgrading the ones you have.”
“Trust me. I can learn skills fast,” Duncan replied.
Fenris was not convinced but he shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Sure. What do you want to learn?”
“Everything,” Duncan replied.
“What do you mean everything? No one can learn everything,” Fenris replied with a raised voice.
“I think I can. Let’s go to the training field and I will show you,” Duncan replied and walked out of the office.
Fenris observed him leave and went after him. He was intrigued by the statement but he still thought it was false bravado.
As they came there he could see Petris in Stealth mode again rushing by him. He ignored him and soon heard a startled yell from Fenris as Petris tapped him on the shoulder.
“How many times did I tell you to stop doing that?” Fenris yelled at Petris.
“Sorry. I had to check if I still have it,” Petris replied.
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“What do you mean by that you had to check? You don’t lose your skills,” Fenris replied with a loud voice, frustration evident.
“My Stealth skill does not work on Duncan anymore. He said it’s because he raised his Perception so much,” Petris replied.
Fenris frowned before replying, “Really? Duncan, what’s your Perception stat like?”
Duncan smiled. “It’s a bit over fifty. He would need the Stealth skill of 26 to have it work on me.”
Fenris’s frown had gotten more pronounced before he said, “I hope you have not spent all our stat points on Perception.
Duncan shook his head. “It’s the physical stat I have the most points in, but the others are not lagging far behind.”
“Good. How do you want us to teach you?” Fenris asked after a brief silence.
“Hmmm. I suggest you two spar with some daggers and I will observe you. Would that be alright?” Duncan suggested.
Petris nodded. “Sure. Let me just take two training daggers,” Petris said before he left for the shed. He came back soon after that with two daggers that had round sticks instead of blades. Fenris and Petris went into the arena and started to fight while Duncan activated his Observe skill.
Petris was obviously more skilled with daggers while Fenris was faster and stronger and could actually keep up. They clashed again and again. Petris had higher agility while Fenris had higher dexterity and strength. His skill was lower but he could improvise and use raw power and speed of his hands where he lacked precision.
Duncan happily observed until he got to level five of Dagger Mastery.
“It’s enough,” he told the pair who were still clashing without either one really getting the upper hand. Petris did actually manage to score more hits but it was a trivial difference.
“Bored already?” Fenris asked as he caught his breath.
“No. I learned the skill,” Duncan replied.
The duo first looked at each other then back at Duncan before Fenris asked, “You want to tell me you got Dagger mastery from that?”
Duncan nodded to the surprise of the duo.
“Show me?” Fenris commanded and took the blunt dagger from Petris' hands and gave it to Duncan.
They walked to the center of the arena circle and started to move. Duncan could not keep up with the power or speed of Fenris but the skill he was exhibiting was obvious. After a few minutes, they stopped.
“How is that possible?” Fenris asked as Petris was eyeing Duncan for the answer also.
“I have a skill for learning skills called Observe,” Duncan admitted.
“What level is your Dagger mastery? This was not level one,” Petris asked.
“It’s level five now. I didn’t have it when we started,” Duncan explained.
The duo looked at each other and shook their heads.
“Did you copy my Stealth skill also?” Petris suddenly asked.
Duncan felt embarrassed but he nodded.
“Good,” Petris said after that to Duncan’s surprise.
“You said you wanted to learn everything. Rosen can teach you Ax and Shield mastery. Petris, go wake him up! If he protests, tell him I will scratch him off the next expedition,” Fenris commanded.
Petris quickly moved towards the barracks as Duncan thanked Fenris.
“The archers are on duty today,” Fenris said after a while.
“I already learned Archery,” Duncan replied.
Fenris nodded, “You could learn tracking from Shaya or unarmed combat from Demira. Pickpocketing from Gabris and Hammer mastery from Tyrok.”
“I have the unarmed combat skill already. Did you say Pickpocketing from Gabris?” Duncan asked with a surprised expression on his face.
“Yeah. He was caught by my father and as punishment, he was made to be a guard apprentice. He was physically weak so he went the long-range route,” Fenris explained.
“Your father?” Duncan once again asked with a surprised expression.
“My father was the Captain of the guards before. He had to go to the war and has not been back since,” Fenris explained.
“You must miss him,” Duncan said, thinking of his own father.
Fenris sighed, before he replied, “I did. It has been more than 150 years since he left. Time heals all wounds. Well most of them. My mother still misses him.”
Duncan could not imagine not missing his father even after 150 years had passed since he was dead. He probably would not live that long anyway or would this experience change that? He shook his head at the thought just as he saw Petris dragging Rosen over.
“Morning, Captain, Duncan,” Rosen said, followed by a yawn.
“Morning Rosen. Take a training ax and let's spar for a bit,” Fenris said and went to the arena circle.
Rosen just shrugged and went to the shed.
Duncan activated his Observe skill just as the fun started. Rosen swung his ax like a wild beast at Fenris who skillfully avoided his first blow. After that initial attack, they circled each other. The trouble with the ax was it was a slow but powerful weapon and you had to use it sparingly, biding your time for the right moment. You could use it to block a sword but when you swung an ax you better score a hit or the momentum would leave you wide open for retaliation.
Rosen charged and swung his ax again once Fenris was out of range and exposed from a block that pushed him back. Fenris tried to block it with his sword but the ax’s momentum just pushed it away and Rosen did a 360 turn at that time for another quick swing. This time Fenris jumped towards Rosen instead of away from him and the ax missed him by a hair.
Fenris was too close to use his sword also but that didn’t stop him from using his fist. He punched Rosen on the nose and spilled blood.
“Captain, that’s not fair,” Rosen complained as they separated.
“Be grateful I didn’t poke you in the back during that maneuver. I am not a brainless animal that would be in awe of your grandstanding. Be happy this is just a spar and not a real fight with a human or you would be already dead,” Fenris said and spat on the floor of the arena angrily.
Rosen grabbed his ax hard and his knuckles turned white and his muscles bulged. There was a spark in his eyes as his whiny expression turned into one that promised pure mayhem. He charged Fenris and used the ax with an overhead blow. Fenris dodged backward and tried to jump forward again just as the ax would hit the ground for another nose job.
To his surprise, the crazed Rosen stopped the ax halfway down and pushed it forward with one hand extending his reach hitting Fenris in the chest. Fenris was stopped in his tracks and bucked over from the blow gasping for breath.
“I win this one,” Rosen declared.
“How?” Fenris asked as he caught his breath.
Rosen smiled before he answered, “I put all my stat points from the level up into Strength so now I can finally use this bloody ax one-handed as I please.”
Fenris turned to Duncan and asked, “Did you get what you wanted?”
Duncan nodded.
“Rosen drop the ax and get your shield out,” Fenris commanded as he straightened himself out. The embarrassment by his own man hurt him more than the blow.
Rosen felt the ice in Captain’s voice and he quickly went to the shed to return the blunt ax. He returned with an old tower shield.
“What now?” Rosen asked.
“I attack. You defend. Until I tell you that you can stop,” Fenris replied.
A blow after blow followed. Each one was blocked by the tower shield at the last second as Fenris let out his pent-up anger and frustration on Rosen. The sword Fenris used was blunt but now looked chipped all over as they finally stopped.
Rosen was panting and was lying down on the ground, while Fenris was standing supporting himself on the sword.
“Did you get it?” Fenris asked.
Duncan nodded.
“Good. Meet me here in two hours and we go back to the mine. I need to kill something today,” Fenris asked.
Duncan frowned before he nodded. He didn’t plan to go to the mine so soon but he could not say no now.
He checked the [ LOG ].
The highlights were three new skills at level 5.
[ You have Learned Dagger mastery Level 5. ]
Dexterity +0.5
Agility +0.5
Perception +0.5
[ You have Learned Ax mastery Level 5. ]
Strength +0.5
Dexterity +0.5
Vitality +0.5
[ You have Learned Shield mastery Level 5. ]
Strength +0.5
Vitality +0.5
Endurance +0.5
The bonuses were a bit dubious to Duncan but made some sense when he thought about it.
He had now had a very important task at hand. He had to learn all about Mushrooms in two hours and return the books before he left for the mine.