It was all well and good to pn a raid on the former capital, but without supplies, it’d be nothing more than a one-way trip. We walked aimlessly, each lost in our own thoughts.

  “Hey, Kit?” I called, gng at Katherine. She was swaying to some tune only she could hear, ened in her own world. She didn’t respond, her steps carefree.

  “Kit? Hello?” I tapped her shoulder.

  She turned slowly, like someone waking from a hailting her head to the side. The first rays of sunlight fell over the tops of the buildings, refleg softly on her face. She squinted, shielding her eyes with a hand.

  “Ye?” she finally responded.

  I’m too deep in this. Why is she so… Wake up me!

  “We need supplies,” I said, trying to focus. “And maybe someoo help us. The quest’s deadline is a day, right? We need a DPS. A mage or a bow user.”

  I hated the idea of splitting the spoils—the fewer, the better—but safety came first. “I know of two. Lisa’s out, so I’ll ask Lucas. What about you?”

  My question made her pause, her eyebrows doing a dance when she was deep in thought. “Lisa and Dmitry,” she said finally, then added, “Ya don’t wanna him tho!”

  I froze. What? She knows Dmitry already?

  “Nah,” she tinued with a grin. “Just us. Tat’s fine!”

  I wao press her about Dmitry, but something held me back—a memory from the mall when she was streaming about her shopping trip with her boyfriend. Dmitry. She’d mentioned him durireams… Yeah, it could be him.

  “O… okay, Kit,” I said, trying to shake the thought. “Let’s go for supplies. I’ll tact Lucas.”

  [Your friend Lucas is offline.]Why is everyone go wasn’t even that te—just midnight! My earlier fidence fizzled out as Katherine and I reached one of the many shops scattered throughout the town.

  Without hesitation, Katherine kicked the door open, barging in like she owhe pce. I trailed behind, only to be hit by a pu wave of spices the moment I stepped ihe overwhelming aroma nearly made me sneeze.

  “Eh?” I let out a surprised noise, blinking at the se before me.

  The shop barely had three feet of space between the door and the ter—or rather, a long wooden board that separated ers from what looked more like a warehouse than a store. Behind it stretched rows of shelves crammed with goods, t almost to the ceiling.

  Perched on a chair behind the ter was a young girl, her green eyes sparkling with mischief as she hopped down and gri us. “Wele to my shop! What do you need? I have everything!”

  “Thanks! I’m Charlie, and this is Katherine,” I said quickly, cutting off any ce for Katherio ruin our first impression. “Do you have an explorer’s pack?”

  “I sure do!” she chirped, darting toward a shelf on the left. “I’m Trix!”

  With the agility of a monkey, she climbed the shelving unit and tossed a pin gray sack down in front of me. “Everything you’ll ever need for expl—only ten gold!” She shoved the sack closer, practically beaming, before pocketing the s I handed over. Her eic mood drained any desire I had to haggle. That would just be a hassle.

  “Anythin’ else? Scrolls? Potions? Armor? Swords?” Trix leaned forward, her small hands pressing onto the ter as she pulled herself up to level the height gap between us. “I’ve got everything!”

  She wasn’t wrong—we’d probably need something strong to clear the walls. Without a mage, that task would be near impossible. “Do you have fireball scrolls?” I asked. Fireball—the cssic choice. Fshy, destructive, effective.

  “Yeah! Ten gold each!”

  She didn’t eveo check her shelves, instead reag uhe ter and pulling out a handful of scrolls. A quie they weren’t from one wizard—each had distinct handwriting and entment patterns. My frown must’ve been obvious, because Trix raised her hand in defense.

  “Wait, wait! They’re good! Best quality, trust me!”

  “I trust you, don’t worry,” I replied with a slight smile, testing the waters for a haggle. “But I’ve heard you get them iy for five gold, and they still make a profit.”

  Trix’s smile vanished instantly, like I’d insulted the quality of her whiskey. “Iy, maybe. But here? The price’s ten. Not even a copper less!”

  Why did that backfire?

  Katherine’s snicker cut through the tension, and my face burned with embarrassment. “Fine, fihere you go!” I emptied my purse—y gold—onto the ter and snatched the scrolls. “That’s all. Thanks, Trix. Let’s go.”

  Before she could tempt me into buying anything else, I grabbed Katherine’s hand and bolted out the door.

  “See ya soon!” Trix’s cheery farewell made me shiver.

  Outside, I doubled asping for air with my hands on my khe crisp m breeze tousled my hair, but I could still smell the spices from the shop.

  “Whatcha doin’?” Katherine asked, her mog toing away at the st shreds of my pride. “She’s smoll girl.”

  “To be ho, I don’t know,” I admitted, still catg my breath. “She pulled money out of me like a lepre!” With each breath, I felt calmer. “Let’s just move on. Do you know if there’s a trainer around?”

  “Hm, ‘kay,” Katherine replied, smirking. “I’ll buy ime. Ya so noob.” She goward a tall building stig out from the surrounding small homes. “There. o barrack.”

  The reason I was searg for a trainer was one of those moments that made me want to smack my head against a wall and roll it in the mud like a wolf. How could I be so stupid? I’d pletely fotten about i skills and wasn’t w on any. Dammit! My emotions were clouding my judgment, and I missed something so basic.

  We made our way to the barracks—an impressive, albeit wooden, two-story building with a sandy drill area beside it. As expected, a palisade, the typical setup, enclosed the space. Strangely, there were no guards at the entrance, so we strolled right in without so much as a gnce from anyone.

  That ht made me chuckle. If this had happened under my and, the entire unit would curse me while running drills with extra weight strapped to their backs… Wait, what memory is this? I stopped. Was I really in charge of a unit? Probably yes…

  “Lassies, what I do for you?” a voiapped me out of my internal monologue.

  I stopped abruptly, notig a short man in a blue robe blog our path. Perhaps he was a guard—or someone pretending to be one.

  “Sir, I—” The words caught in my throat as a foul odor hit me like a punch. I coughed, waving a hand in front of my nose. “What? No—”

  The smelly elf burst out ughing, his whole body shaking as he spped his enormous belly. “Aren’t you delicate, like a lily? This is the true smell of manhood!”

  “Stinky!” Katherine added, wrinkling her nose. Her tone was filled with mock disgust. Is she pying on a hundred pert reality too?

  “Well, well, what are you searg for here?” he asked, his tone shifting slightly. Though more serious, the amusement still lingered in his voice.

  Mog me. Stupid mage. If I had my swht now, I’d teach him a lesson. “I want to learn i skills,” I said firmly, stepping back three paces to escape the smell. “We don’t have any.”

  At the mention of skills, Katherine’s face lit up. “Wat’s ‘tat?”

  “You’re in the right pce, ssies!” The man adjusted his robe, though it did little to hide his round belly.

  Before I could respond, the door to our left swung open with a loud creak. A rge-framed woman emerged, dug her head to fit through the doorway. Once fully outside, she boomed in a anding voice, “Maidens, anybody master i skills, but they demand your tration! Without focus, you achieve nothing.”

  “They’re free skills outside the basic five,” I whispered in Katherine’s ear.

  “I’m Lily,” the woman tinued, her tone slowing as if she were expining to someone already three drinks deep. “I’ll teach you all about body, mind, and magic skills. You work on all three simultaneously, but you ’t progress further until you’ve mastered their secrets.”

  “Sure, Miss Lily. I want to learn block,” I said, eling magito my shield with a smirk. Finally, a useful skill. Warrior skills are the best.

  What happened caught me pletely off guard.

  Without warning, Lily jumped into the air and kicked at me with surprising speed for her size. Instinct took over—my honed reas kicked in, and I raised my shield, brag my knees in an imperial block stance.

  But the force of her kick was beyond anything I’d expected. The impact sent me flying backward, straight into the wooden palisade with a loud thud.

  [Block successful. Mitigated amount of damage: 4, other damage halved. Suffered amount: 20][gratutions! You are learning an i skill (body): Block. To unlock a block, blo attack: 1/10000]“What are you doing, you stupid flower?” I growled as I healed myself, scrambling bay feet. I gred at Lily, but she wasn’t even looking at me. Instead, she turo Katherine, her warm smile pletely ign my existence.

  Meanwhile, the smelly guy strode toward me. Great. Just what I needed.

  “You aren’t doing magic properly,” he said, his tone dripping with dession. “Your healing spell was lousy, and you wasted a lot of time.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, he wasn’t wrong. My gaze stayed fixed on him, though part of me wao disappear uhe dirt. Maybe there is something to the mud-loving wolves.

  “What do you want to learn about i magic?” he asked, his smugness oozing from every part of his fatty body.

  Bag away with three deliberate imperial steps, I ched my fists, anger bubblih the surface. If only I could smack that gut of his. “ lightning,” I said simply.

  Even if I wasn’t a mage, I knew my stuff. I had read enough guides to know that everyone agreed this spell was one of the most useful i skills to train.

  His smile vanished as he gave a sharp nod. “An excellent decision. Watch closely.”

  With that, he began. The first rune he created crackled with energy, the charged atmosphere making my skin prickle. By the time he fihe sed ruhe power he’d gathered alpable.

  Then, all at ohe energy surged forward.

  The spell streaked through the air, arg toward a pole behi was incredibly fast, far beyond anything I could dodge, but I could tell it wasn’t as fast as actual lightning. The bolt struck the first pole, jumped to the , and then…

  I realized too te that I was the only viable st target.

  The of lightning hit me squarely, and for a moment, my entire body felt like it was trapped inside a bass speaker at full volume. Or maybe it was more like a horde of drunken Sen on warhorses trampling over me.

  [You lost 15 HP.]“You filthy mage!”

  My anger boiled over, and before I could rein myself in, my whip shed out toward him.

  He didn’t even flinch. A smug smile spread across his face as he summoned a shield, the glowing barrier effortlessly defleg my attack. The whip slid across its surface without leaving a mark.

  “It’s your fault for standing there,” he said, his tone maddeningly calm. “Now, e here and watch again.”

  I ched my fists so hard I thought my nails might break skin. Breathe, Charlie, breathe. Relutly, I joined him, doing my best to ighe foul stench emanating from him. At least the lesson is free… for some reason. Ugh.

  He demonstrated the spell again, this time slower. Although he showed me the ruwice more, I still couldn’t replicate them. The system refused to assist with i skills, leavio rely entirely on my memory. And drawing them from memory? Impossible.

  The mage clearly thought I was a plete idiot—and to be fair, he wasirely wrong. My failure was written all over his face as he slowed his movements even further, each deliberate gesture like a jab at my pride. The worst part? He wasn’t even being malicious—it was just his way.

  Each failed attempt only fueled my frustration, and I could feel my pride getting dragged through the mud with every sed of his smug “teag.”

  I failed to learn the spell over thirty times before it finally clicked. Katherine, of course, had been waiting for me the whole time, her amused half-smile doing absolutely nothing to help my focus. If anything, it’s worse.

  As I cast the first ruhe statiergy began to build around me. Promising. Encing, even. Then I moved on to the sed rune.

  Nothing happened.

  The mage csped his hands together, his shoulders shaking as he barely suppressed his ughter. “What were you thinking about?” he asked, his voice teetering on the edge of another fit.

  “Is it important?” I shot back, my face likely torted into a ridiix of fusion and annoyance. Whatever expression I made, it was enough to send him into a full-blown ugh. The sound echoed around us, urained and infuriating.

  It didn’t stop. Not until I spped him.

  The satisfying snap of my palm against his cheek was cathartiough to earn a follow-up oher side, just food measure.

  My pride—both as a man and a warrior—was in tatters. This is a nightmare. One I’ll never wake up from. Ever.

  Eventually, he calmed down, though the smirk never fully left his face. “During a spell, you o focus,” he expined, still catg his breath. “Magic will take the form of your thoughts. If you’re thinking about dihe magi’t create lightning. The runes are here to help, to guide you—they aren’t the spell itself.”

  Why am I only hearing this after twenty years of pying this game? My internal screaming was relentless, but I pushed it aside and refocused on the spell.

  It took me only five more tries to create the first rune again, but the real challenge was imagining the lightning. How do you picture something that does in this world?

  Then it hit me—literally. I imagihe lightning striking him.

  The sed rune came effortlessly, and with it, the spell unleashed.

  [Critical hit! Target lost 1HP][gratutions! You are learning an i skill (magic): lighting. To unlock a lighting, practice it: 1/1000]Damn. It’ll do only chip damage before I master it. Great.

  “Again. Thousands times.”