The rest of the team decided to join me at the Training Guild. Getting quick levels in spells or abilities was an invaluable resource we needed to start using.

  Steve said, “I’ve got folks searching for clues about the disappearances. If we can solve the mystery, maybe we can diffuse some of the tension.”

  “Not to mention saving lives,” Jane said.

  “Good. Keep us posted.”

  The tall, white spires of the System Store and the Training Guild were situated in one corner of the square in front of the central town castle. The town store was located nearby in the rows of merchants ringing the square. It was still early morning, but people were moving about, shopping, selling, and visiting the System Store. Few stopped in front of the Training Guild.

  There was one woman standing there, her form glowing slightly, as if she had turned incorporeal. It was Liz Stevenson from Burns’s team. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and focused to trigger Identify.

  “Elizabeth Stevens. Baby human level 58. Team Pirates of the Caribbean. Class: Non-Profit Wizard. Elizabeth started strong with abilities to add buffs to weapons and generate temporary spell scrolls for mana crystals. She accrued a lot of wealth, but unfortunately chose to permanent a spell allowing her to generate a temporary spell that perfectly fits another player’s build. The spell costs more than most people are able to pay, and she cannot create cheaper spells until she uses the new spell first each day.”

  Huh. My recently-upgraded Linguasight utility spell did add more details now. It sounded like Liz hadn’t wrecked her class as badly as Ed and some of the other folks, but seemed to be struggling. I made a mental note to ask her to join our raiding party back down to the merfolk lair later.

  Steve tried touching Liz’s shoulder, but his hand passed right through. “That’s a cool feature. While we’re in the Training Guild, looks like no one can stab us in the back or rob us.”

  That was helpful. Ruby frowned and glanced at me. “I thought you said Burns and his team were with Tony taking out that warehouse of clockwork insects. Why is Liz in town, then?”

  “I have no idea. We’ll have to ask her when we finish.” Maybe Burns left her behind because she’d messed up her build?

  As soon as I focused on the Guild’s spire, golden letters appeared above it.

  “Training Guild. Gain rapid levels in a 2-to-1 time dilation training room. First session free. Second session costs 1 tier-3 mana crystal. The cost of each subsequent session rises by 1 mana crystal tier. Enter the guild?”

  So each 1-hour session only took half an hour? Even better. Turning to my team, I flashed a grin and said, “See you in a bit.”

  Then I willed my acceptance to the prompt and the world flashed white. The stone-paved square, looming purple-hued castle, and row of medieval-type wooden shops disappeared, replaced by a large, empty room, sheathed in dully gleaming aluminum. A white, androgynous humanoid with a blank face, like a changeling who hadn’t settled on a new form, hovered in the air nearby. It spoke in a bland, robotic voice.

  “Welcome to your first session in the Training Guild. You may choose one spell or ability to train. Cooldowns are set to zero, and you will not use up any remaining uses of spells while training. What do you wish to train?”

  I opened my menus and scanned the available options. I wanted to train everything, but what would win me the biggest return on the time investment?

  Honestly, my permanent spells and utility spells were all pretty high leveled. My class spells Divergent Strike and Potential Hammer might be great options. They both added tons of power to my arsenal, but what if I lost them when I evolved my class at level 50? I wasn’t that far off.

  My recently-swelled list of temporary spells still made me smile, and Shadow Walk was definitely a contender for my next permanent spell. It might be a good option to train, but would another level make it significantly stronger?

  Abilities, on the other hand, contained a lot of options I’d love to train, especially the tier-0 abilities. Some of them added significantly to my fighting power, like Hand-to-Hand Fighting, Heavy Weapons, and Dual Wield. Actually, as I scanned the list, the true magnitude of that pre-evolution scroll I got in the ruby loot box became clear.

  I’d been so caught up in the rush of new power I hadn’t really studied what so many extra levels in all of my abilities meant. At level 15, Force Weaver would add 225% extra power to any synergized spells, and Phantom Step would let me stay incorporeal for up to 75 seconds at a time. Sport Fishing dealt an extra 225% damage to aquatic monsters, and Visionary Resolve would boost my team with 150% extra Constitution, Strength, and Mental Resistance when facing must stronger monsters, or large groups of monsters.

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  Fire Hand was just awesome, dealing a whopping extra 750% damage to monsters who wielded fire mana, and now Mimic pretty much guaranteed I could capture any spell I got hit with. Just as exciting, Mana Strings was now high enough that I was an idiot for not practicing with mana more. I should be able to wield easily, but with enormous improvements to power and strength.

  So which would help the most? I felt confident we could defeat the clockwork insects, especially after Tony and Burns wiped out that warehouse full of extra monsters. That left stage 4 and the overpowered court of Queen Marisara. I thought back to Marshal Thalorian’s overwhelming speed. Even with my recently-improved Efficiency, could I keep up with him? I expected to face him with my blades, so that made the choice easy.

  “I choose Dual Wield.”

  “Very well.” The blank-faced form in front of me morphed into a black-haired rogue with a handlebar mustache, wide, floppy hat, and leather armor, wielding a pair of elegant longswords. The description of Dual Wield flashed on the wall to my left.

  “Dual Wield. Ability. Epic. Gain 10% Agility and 15% extra damage per level when dual wielding. Once per fight may trigger Steel Blizzard.”

  “Steel Blizzard. For your next 4 strikes, 4 clone blades will follow each weapon’s every move and deliver 50% pure kinetic force and 50% pure spiritual force against the target.”

  The rogue trainer’s voice changed to a confident baritone with a Spanish accent. “Come, my friend, and together we will walk the Dance of Blades.”

  He made a sweeping bow, blades slashing the air before he retreated into the center of the room, which changed into a scene right out of medieval France. It was like we’d been teleported to a country road, flanked by green trees, with a medieval town visible in the distance.

  Grinning, I summoned Echo and Scalebiter. My grin widened as the boost to my Agility triggered from my tier-1 Swordsman ability, boosting my already-improved Agility yet again. Moving felt effortless, and my blades blurred around me as I worked through a couple practice moves.

  My trainer saluted with his blades, and we leaped at each other. As fast as I moved, the system trainer pushed me to my limits. We sparred back and forth across the room, blades blurring, the staccato sound like the constant crackling of a never-ending string of firecrackers.

  I slipped deep into the fighting zone, every thought, every instinct, every muscle attuned to the duel and, as our blades rang together again and again, new insights flooded my mind. My footing improved, the angle of my blades became sharper, wasting less effort, and I reveled in the process of visibly growing my skills.

  Way too soon, the trainer disengaged. He gave me another sweeping bow, looking as fresh as when we started. I saluted in return, catching my breath. I was sweating and panting, every muscle burning in that delicious pain that testified of an intense workout. Despite my insanely high stats, I’d pushed myself for a full hour and needed a moment to recover.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! Dual Wield ability has reached level 16.”

  The trainer’s blades disappeared and he twisted one end of his gleaming mustache. “You may return in 8 hours for another training session.”

  That was new. I’d been tempted to just pay the mana crystal and go for another session instantly. That was too much fun. With an 8-hour training cooldown, I could train up to 3 spells or abilities in a single day, if I managed my time right. With about 5 and a half days left before we had to make the push into stage 4, I could gain a lot of power.

  The world flashed and I returned to the plaza in Port Royale. More people were out and about, and a handful were standing near us, faintly glowing in ethereal form as they too utilized the Training Guild, but the numbers were still way smaller than they should be. Had Crystal not spread the word that I’d pay for their 3rd and 4th sessions?

  The rest of my team returned from their training seconds later, and we spent a few minutes detailing our experiences. Each of us had gained a level in a vital spell or ability, and everyone was as committed to returning to train again as often as time would allow.

  Crystal was at the desk at the town store. When I asked about why so few people were training, she sighed. “I’ve been spreading the word of your offer to everyone I can, but most people don’t seem to get how important leveling is.”

  “Short-sighted idiots,” Jane growled.

  “Maybe, but life is crazy, and most folks don’t plan to join the front lines fighting the monsters. They don’t have many mana crystals, so why spend even a few on training one might never benefit from?”

  I fought back a surge of annoyance. We had made so much progress, but we still had so much to do. We couldn’t relent, or Marisara’s forces would crush us.

  “People can’t be that dumb on their own,” Tomas said with a thoughtful frown. “Is anyone actively discouraging training?”

  Crystal frowned. “Not that I know of. Why would they do that?”

  I clapped Tomas on the shoulder. “You’re right. We know Queen Marisara’s got agents in town. They’re probably helping stoke the contention that’s fracturing people apart. Makes sense that they’d try to discourage folks from getting stronger.”

  I turned to Crystal. “Keep an open ear. If you find out about anyone talking down the training guild, or pushing rumors blaming other groups for those disappearances, let me know.”

  She chuckled dryly. “Lots of people are pointing fingers. Tensions are growing fast because too many are falling behind on their levels. The disappearances just give folks something to focus their fear on.”

  “I know, but there’s got to be a few stoking the flames.”

  “Maybe, but what are you going to do about it?” she asked.

  “I’ll have a talk with them.”

  Crystal gave me a serious look. “Lucas, I appreciate your dedication to winning, but you can’t go around beating up or killing anyone who loses hope.”

  “I don’t plan to, but if people are working for Queen Marisara like the Briggs, that makes them traitors to our entire planet. They deserve no mercy.”

  “How will you know?”

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  The Briggs had been easy, but maybe other traitors were more clever. Or maybe agents of Queen Marisara could take over people’s bodies, or shape shift to look like them. There was so much we didn’t know.

  Hopefully my access to their messages would give me an edge. Plus, I now had 6 uses of that Scroll of Veracity that would tell me if folks were lying. Each only lasted for a single conversation, but they might help ferret out traitors once I knew who to question.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Crystal promised.