I sat in Arden's study. The older man was sitting across from me, and I watched as the candlelight flickered across his face as he read. We'd been studying for several hours, but the man still wanted to squeeze more out of me, even though my head was practically mush at this point.

The priest had a huge collection of books, many of which he'd shown me over the last few weeks. There was a stack of them on the desk. He'd taken it as his personal mission to instruct me in the ways of this world, and he was admittedly doing a great job. I could also tell he enjoyed my company.

He had me reading as much as I could to help me graduate from Commlish to Common. I could actually understand a fair bit of the native language now. At least the concrete ideas. To be fair, I was doing less reading and more reading along, like a first grader, but it was working. I could understand way more than I did before. However, like Tristan said, once I'd gained enough ground in Common that I could understand the main ideas, Arden was insistent that we only use it from that point on. It made communication difficult at times, but I appreciated his instruction. He was an excellent teacher.

"Translate this passage to me." The grey-haired almost George Clooney pointed at a passage on the page we had been reading. I followed his fingers and read. "Kaj la diino malsupreniris la landon kaj benis ĉiujn per sia ora lumo."

"Uhh..." It had been two months of pretty intense study. Once I'd learned that Naya was dating Ro-Saleh, the hot guy, my head cleared pretty quickly, and I got busy. I'd decided to double my efforts to learn the language and get a footing in this world. I couldn't stay here forever, watching the two love birds play grab ass every day. They were disgustingly loving with one another, and while I was happy for them, screw them.

I also learned that Naya was actually Na-Ya, that all elves had combined names, and that she was from a group called the common elves. Ro-Saleh, was from a different group called the sun elves. I honestly didn't really understand the differences outside of hair and eye colors, but apparently, they were important, at least to the elves. Plus, him being a sun elf made sense. The dude had golden hair and eyes and practically shined with charisma. Also, the more I got to know him, the more I realized he was genuinely a good guy. What a prick.

"Alex?" Arden caught me daydreaming and was sassing me. He did that a lot.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Um, I think it means that the Goddess descended to the land and gave some kind of light."

"Very good!" He had stood up and was hovering over me. He put his hand on my shoulder. "Her golden light." He patted my shoulder and sat back down across from me. "You're doing well. This is one of the faith's texts made for children. You can now understand Common at something like a third-grade level, which is no easy feat considering you've only been awake for three months and have only been actively studying for two."

I hadn't told him I'd been getting supplemental tutoring from Tristan in exchange for stories from Earth. We'd actually become close over the past three months. He was as sulky as ever, but he really was a good kid. "What can I say? I'm a fast learner." I smirked at him.

"I won't even check that ego of yours. You are doing quite well." His face became serious. "What are you planning to do once you're fully healed?"

My leg had been stubborn. While my arm had mostly healed, though I couldn't feel all my fingers and I'd have permanent scarring, my leg was still stiff and painful. Varga said that it shouldn't be much longer, but Rennard told me that only hard work and discipline would fix me now. The man recommended I join them in their daily training, but Varga hadn't cleared me for that yet, and her word was the real law around here. "Once my leg is better, I kind of want to get out in the world and see what there is to do. Tristan keeps talking about his hometown, so I figured I'd walk over there once I could, maybe meet some people."

"That's a good short-term goal. Are you considering joining Rennard in training?"

"Yeah, I am. I used to do stuff like that back home for a lot of years, so I'd like to learn what I can." I wanted to make magical light come out of my hands like they did. That was way too awesome.

"Good, it sounds like you're getting an idea of what you'd like to achieve in Reial." He sipped on a cup of tea. "If I could make a suggestion?"

His suggestions were more like things you should absolutely take to heart in my experience with the man so far. "Of course. What's up?"

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"Learn as much as you can while you're here, then visit the capital. It's a little over a month to travel to the Saern from here, but you'd learn a lot by seeing it, and that's where the most connections and opportunities can be found. If you're looking to gain strength and get established in this world, it's the best place for that. From there, you can choose whether you want to come back out here or continue on." He smiled and got a far-off look for a moment. "Plus, seeing the Tower up close is very impressive. "

"Yeah, that sounds great. Is it hard to find a place there?"

"Not really. The church is always taking people in, and we have contacts there, so you could easily stay with us. And if you learn everything you can while you're here, you'll be of use to any branch of the church, even if you're not a full priest like Rennard or Varga. I'm just a scholar, but I'm welcome anywhere there's a church. You could do the same. You can travel as much as you want. Well, until you gain a certain amount of reputation. That's when people tend to get locked down more."

It sounded like a good plan. "I'll do that."

He smiled. "Good. It will take a year for you to learn everything I have to teach you at the rate that you're learning, and I believe about the same amount of time to learn everything Rennard can teach if you train every day. You'll pick up other things in the meantime as well. Hopefully, you'll unlock a class through rigorous training. That would make your life far easier. Classes are the main way to gain strength. They give skills, abilities, and bonuses. You should be able to unlock your heritage and racial classes soon, but your racial class won't help you much. Humans have the worst racial class, but we outsiders get some bonuses for being what we are. It makes up for our weak race a little."

"Should I take notes, or?..."

"Not at all. You'll learn through doing soon enough. Just know that nearly everyone unlocks their racial and heritage abilities, most people gain a profession, some people unlock their star signs through rituals, and a few people unlock a heroic class. That one's the hardest. You need to do something heroic or achieve something great, but the system won't tell you what that entails or what you're capable of. Ten people could do the same thing, and only one would unlock a class. It seems to be based on personality and aptitude, at least to some degree, but only the Goddess knows the particulars. That's why I want to expose you to as much as possible. You'll have the greatest chance of gaining aptitude in a variety of areas if you learn as much as you can."

Damn, that was a lot. I appreciated Arden more than ever at that moment. He really was looking out for me. I'd make you proud, father figure in another world. "I'm in. Teach me everything."

***

"Again!" Rennard shouted, and our little band of warrior priests reset. "Ready... Begin!"

We flowed through the form we were working on. I'd learned it over the past month since I'd talked to Arden. Rennard had been right. My leg only started getting better when I began training, and Na-Ya and Ro-Saleh had taught me some stretching sets that reminded me of Yoga. I was getting much stronger, but my leg was still quite stiff.

The form we were working on was called Dawn's Embrace. The theory behind it was that it symbolized the Goddess breaking through the darkness. It was all about being defensive while weaving through a different fluid strikes. It really was impressive watching the others perform it too. Unlike the others, who mostly embodied the ideal (except for Tristan. He hardly tried), I knew I looked like a mess. The form was twenty-one movements, and I messed up half of them. I was too stiff and slow. Once we'd finished, Rennard waved me over.

"Again!" He shouted while pulling me to the side. Ro-Saleh took on as group leader. "Your form is abysmal."

"Thank you, Rennard. You really know how to make a guy feel better about himself."

"I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm trying to make you better. The forms are about more than just swinging a weapon. You need to learn to stop fighting your body. Also, you're too weak. You're losing energy far too quickly."

"Yeah, I'm a mess."

"You are."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Stay after class. We will be working on your form."

"Yes, Sir." The stout dwarf marched away. Damn, he was scary sometimes.

We trained for a while longer, until everyone was gasping for breath and desperate for water. After a series of punishing calisthenics, Rennard called class. Everyone started cleaning up, and I prepared myself for abuse.

Ro-Saleh sauntered over. "I saw you talking to Rennard. You staying late, Alex?" Ro-Saleh said, his perfect body gleaming with sweat. Two of the women were eyeing him the way hawks eye mice.

"Yeah, I am. Rennard wants to go over some things."

"Hey, that's a compliment. The old man only ever gives students extra time if he sees they have potential. Chin up, friend." Ro-Saleh playfully punched my jaw. I hated to admit it, but he really was a great guy. We'd become much closer since I'd started training. I went to walk away, but he leaned in. "If it's any consolation, Tristan over there's never gotten a private lesson. You might look rough, but he's got no talent at all, and he doesn't really care to be good. He keeps showing up though, so you've got no excuse." He smiled his perfect smile again, his golden eyes twinkling, and I realized in that moment that he was the worst kind of guy.

A good guy.

I hated him.

Na-Ya appeared next to him, looking equally hot and sweaty, and the two sauntered off to wherever they were going to. A few minutes later, the rest of the students filtered out. As they did, Tristan walked up.

"Ready?"

"Actually..."

"Alex!" The old dwarf barked.

"Ohhh..." Tristan's face twisted into a wicked smile. "You have fun with that." He ran off to catch up with Na-Ya and Ro-Saleh.

"Turn!" My feet obeyed without my consent. They were afraid. "I'm going to shape you up, boy." I gulped. This was going to hurt.