Around the starter area is a boundary. When I start to cross the boundary, I get a prompt.

  I select No and decide to follow the boundary around to the North road into the village instead of dealing with the wolves. I leave my hand on the boundary, ignoring the warning that pops up again as I slide my hand along the boundary. After a pleasant thirty-minute wolf-free walk my hand suddenly vanishes up to my elbow and I nearly fall. I receive a new prompt.

  I feel something in the hole besides the nauseating feel of my arm, which feels like it is stretching and shrinking. I make a grab as I pull my hand from the hole. The mummified remains of an adventurer fall to the ground as I realize what I have in my hand. When the body hits the ground, it turns to dust leaving a rolled-up parchment and a modest pile of gold. I loot the items. Then there is a new notification.

  My eyes nearly pop out of my head as I see the word “Legendary”. I check out the map. As I examine it, I realize I can zoom in an out at will. A flashing blue dot draws my eye and I zoom in realizing the flashing blue dot is my location in the Starter Area. It also has a flashing red dot in the center of the Gnoll Area. As I view the map I get another notification.

  This is awesome, what a find. I look back to the area hiding the Dimensional Hole. I get another notification.

  Wow, I need to think about this. My Shaper ability apparently helped me, but even so it was painful and damaging. If a Level one fell in, I am not sure what would happen. Also, it looks like it was preventing Jacob from respawning. With what Jacob dropped he must be a high level and if he respawns in here who knows what will happen. I nod to myself and select Yes. Suddenly there is a glow and pop behind me. I turn, and, to my surprise, the Captain is standing there.

  He says. “You seem to live a charmed life, George. You are probably wondering what is going on. You selected to notify the System about a problem that is outside of the scope of the normal notification system. When that happens, the System searches the area for the creature with the greatest debt to the System that can address the issue, which for this area is me. Now that you have made us aware of this, we see that Jacob Greenwood attempted to penetrate the Starter Area and almost succeeded. He also managed to remove his respawn point, so with you freeing him, his respawn point switched to here. I have redirected his respawn to a System location to judge his punishment. This Dimensional Hole will be sealed.”

  The Captain waves a hand and the hole becomes visible before it snaps shut.

  “Now you may keep the loot from Jacob’s body. You also get a reward for informing the System. What would you like?”

  I stutter as I ask, “What are the possibilities?”

  “You can get an Advanced skill, a five-point attribute increase, a ten percent immunity to a specific type of damage, or a skill progression level advancement, for example.”

  “Wow.” I say and consider what will be the best overall. I don’t plan on being a melee fighter, so a partial immunity to damage will probably not help a lot. I can get my own skill progression. The attribute points would be good and the new Advanced skill would be nice, since they are apparently hard to come by.

  “I have decided I would like an Advanced skill.”

  “Very well.” The Captain says and new notification window opens.

  The Captain continues. “There is one more thing. The System is willing to offer you an exchange for the Map if you give it up. You can get a complete set of Master level light armor with no level restrictions in exchange if you accept.”

  This is incredible, but there is no way I will agree to that. If the System wants it back that bad, it must be worth a fortune. I just must figure out how. I hope I won’t regret this as I say no.

  “Very well, that is your right. This concludes our business. For your information, you are not to tell anyone about this, and I will not remember this after I return to the village, so do not try to discuss this with me. Farewell.” There is another pop and the Captain vanishes.

  That was intense. I want to get back to the village but first I take out a sandwich and eat it. I realize I am starving after that adrenaline rush. I use my new map to quickly head to the North road and then back to the village. I see the new group on my way, killing rabbits as I maintain my stealth. They don’t seem to notice me when I stop to watch them. They are using the two tanks to pull two rabbits at a time. The archers then fire arrows at them while the mages cast the occasional mana darts. The clerics are watching the tanks and one casts a heal. The group seems to be working together well since there is a pile of killed rabbits stacked neatly behind them. They are waiting to skin and butcher a bunch at the same time.

  I continue to the village and head over to the Tavern to unload the wolf meat first. John is standing on a ladder dusting the rafters as I enter. He says. “You are back early, any problems?”

  “No, I finished the Wolf and Herb quest and thought I would ask for an opinion on increasing my Stealth, and any tips on hunting the Orcs.”

  John hops down and walks over to open a trade window. He is willing to give me five coppers for each wolf steak. I have ninety-two in my inventory, which comes to four silvers and sixty coppers as I finish the trade with John.

  John has a thoughtful look on his face as he stares at me. I am sure he is checking out my stats.

  He says. “The best way for you to increase your stealth is to go to the Gnoll area. The Gnolls have patrols of three Gnolls every five minutes on the North side of their area. You should stealth and then time the patrol. After one patrol passes move to within ten feet of the path they patrol. Then activate your cloak of concealment while your stealth is active. After a day of that you should be at Beginner. For the Orcs, they are in groups of five. This will be difficult for you since your spells are more geared for single attacks.”

  “Yes, I had the same problem with the large group of wolves. Is there any chance anyone else has some more spells?”

  John frowns and says. “Burt will have some, but it won’t matter.”

  “Why is that?” I ask puzzled.

  “Well, the first and second level spells are very cheap here. You get them for ten and thirty coppers, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is one to ten percent of what they typically cost. It is why there are only a few for sale. First level spells are usually one to two silvers, depending on their usefulness. Second level spells are three to thirty silvers. A third level spell will be twenty silvers to two gold. Also, these prices are if you are in a guild or part of a household that has access to the spells. Otherwise, they are ten times as much and Burt would sell them at the higher prices.”

  “So, Burt would be trying to sell more second level spells for thirty silvers to three gold?” I ask.

  “Yes, which means waiting until you leave the area and join a household or guild is definitely the way to go. Otherwise, you would have to kill so many creatures to get the money that you will reach the level ten cap first and have to leave.”

  “Ok, thanks for explaining. That is definitely good information to know.”

  “You’re welcome, anything else?”

  “Not for now. I am going to hand in the other quests.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Very well, see you later.” John says and climbs back up the ladder to continue his dusting.

  I head over to the Alchemist shop. The small bell rings as I enter. The smell of dried and fresh herbs washes over me. Mathis the shopkeeper pushes a curtain aside and comes from the back of the shop.

  “Good afternoon, can I help you?”

  “Hi, I have the herbs for the Learning Herbalism Quest.”

  “Great.” He says and opens a trade window. “Place the herbs in the window.”

  I remove the herbs from my inventory and place them in the trade window where Mathis places ten potion vials. After Mathis and I accept the trade, I have five potions of Minor Healing and five potions of Minor Mana Regeneration for 50 points each.

  “Anything else I can help you with?” Mathis says with a slight hiss. I swear his tongue has a fork. I tell him that is it. Then I head over to the General Store to see if Burt has some more spells.

  As I enter the store I see Burt is out on a ladder. The man seems to spend all his time up there. He greets me a little warily as I walk up to the counter.

  “What can I do for you today?” He asks.

  “I want to purchase some more spells.” I say.

  Burt frowns and says. “You are wasting your time. I don’t have any other spells to sell you.”

  “Really? You can truthfully say you have no more spells for sale?”

  He stiffens at my wording. He says. “Nothing that you can afford.”

  “Oh, and how do you know I can’t afford it before you offer it to me?”

  “Enough of this. You would need to have at least one hundred gold for me to take you seriously.”

  “Ok.” I say.

  “Ok what?” He says confused.

  “Ok, I have one hundred gold.”

  “That’s impossible. Prove it.”

  I open a trade window and I say. “Very well, but I expect a good deal for all you are putting me through.” I place one hundred gold in the window. It looks like his eyes are going to pop out of his head.

  “There is no way you got that on your own, someone is helping you.” He accuses as his face turns to an angry red.

  “That is a serious accusation to make.”

  He says. “Then tell me where you got that money.”

  “That is not possible.” I say.

  “I’ll just bet it is. Well we will just see about this.” He waves away the window and pulls a glowing green crystal from his inventory. The stone pulses in his hands.

  He says. “I must report a System violation.”

  A pulsing blue ball forms in the air and speaks in a deep voice. “State the nature of the violation.”

  Burt seems to take great delight as he accuses me. “George Peterson has over one hundred gold on his person, which is more than any starting adventurer can bring into or earn in the Starter Area. Someone must be helping him.”

  Even though the blue light has no eyes, it seems to turn to me as it says. “There is no violation.”

  “What? That’s impossible. How could he have gotten the money without a violation?”

  The blue ball thrums as it says. “Silence. There is no violation and you will not question or speak of this again.” With that the blue ball vanishes.

  Burt is white as a sheet when I ask. “So, spells?”

  “What?” He replies in a daze. I am enjoying his discomfort too much, but he was delighting in trying to report me just a second ago, so I don’t feel too bad.

  “What spells do you have?”

  He shook himself, “I have Level 1 Burning Hands, Level 2 Fireball, Level 2 Lightning, Level 2 Concealing Mists, and Level 3 Ice Storm. The level one is ten gold, the level two is twenty gold and the level three is forty gold.”

  “Very well.” I put 110 gold in a trade window while he adds the spell scrolls. I select accept and left without another word. I head over to the Captain to hand in my last quest. Near the barrack, I hear the Captain complementing one of the men practicing. This is the first time I heard him do that. He has a light smile on his lips as he notices me.

  “What can I do for you today, young adventurer?” He says with a twinkle in his eye.

  “I am here to turn in the Cull the Wolves Quest.”

  “Ok, let’s see how many tails you have.” He opens a trade window with me.

  I place the twenty wolf tails in the trade window. He adds forty coppers and we both accept. I am now up to 481 gold and eight silvers.

  I say, “Great, now I want to ask you about more training.”

  “You did a great job with the training I gave you, but I can’t offer you anymore free training.”

  “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to imply I wanted free training. I am happy to pay for it.”

  “I don’t think you have any idea what training actually costs.” The Captain says.

  The guards are watching us more than they are paying attention to what they are doing. I ask if we can continue this discussion back by the training dummies.

  “That will be a waste of time, but all right.” He leads the way to the rear of the barrack. “So, I don’t know what you want to discuss. I hope you don’t think your trade skill is high enough to try to get a deal.”

  “Not at all. I just want an honest answer on how much you would charge per day to train me in an Advanced skill?”

  The Captain’s eyebrows both shoot up. He stares at me hard and I get a notification that my Veil has been pierced. “How did you get that skill?”

  “I am sorry I can’t say. Now how much to get training in this skill?”

  The Captain continues to frown at me rubbing his chin. He suddenly jerks as if started. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Believe what?” I ask.

  “Never mind. It will cost ten gold per day to train this skill, but in addition to the gold you have another problem.”

  “What is that?”

  “You are getting close to level nine and Advanced Skills award a lot of XP as they level. In a few days you will hit level ten and then you will have to leave. After you leave I would not tell anyone you have that skill. They will want to know how someone just out of the Starter Area managed to get it and will not take no for an answer.”

  “I didn’t think of that. Is there any way I can level up the skill while decreasing the XP I earn?”

  “Well, I could always kill you to lower your level.” He says, as I look at him in horror. “Relax I am just joking. Seriously though, I can defer you XP awards like I did when training you in endurance. I can only defer a max of one month. If you just focus on leveling this skill, that should get you to Adept before I must award you your XP, but you will have to leave the area the day I do.”

  “That sounds great let’s do that.”

  “First you must pay one week in advance, which is one hundred gold. I will also require one gold for materials.” I grin and open a trade window. I put one hundred and one gold in it and watch his eyes widen.

  “I am guessing it will do no good to ask where you got this, so I won’t ask. First, we are going to spend the rest of today practicing with different weapons. You need at least some skill in each of the weapons to increase your chances to parry. I will use a gold to buy cheap swords from the blacksmith for practice tomorrow.”

  “Why all of the cheap swords?”

  “If you use a weapon to parry a spell, the durability of the weapon will decrease by the level of the spell parried. Since the sword is the most useful in parrying both spells and another weapon we will focus on that after raising your skill with several other weapons.”

  The Captain then proceeds to pull out a Broad Sword, Long Sword, Bastard Sword, Mace, Crossbow, Short Bow, and Long Bow. He even pulls out three different spears and daggers to have me practice with. “You are familiar with a Sword, Dagger, and Spear. Using different kinds of swords will improve your skill quicker so we will start with those.”

  He hands me the Broad Sword first and then casts two spells. The Captain casts Bull Strength increasing my strength by eight points. The Captain casts Lesser Haste, which increases my speed by 50%. We then start several grueling hours of training. As I become fatigued the Captain refreshes my Stamina. He also refreshes the buffs on me, so that I can keep up. He has me try to parry every blow. Only successful parries increase my skill. We stop briefly to eat some dinner before continuing with my practice late into the evening.

  “Very good. We can continue this tomorrow morning.” The Captain says as he adds the weapons back to his inventory and walks off. He is not one for small talk, I think as I walk to the Tavern.

  When I arrive, the group at the table quiets down to watch me walk over to the bar. John is leaning against the bar when I slide onto a stool and order an ale while placing two coppers on the bar. John makes the coppers disappear and slides a cold foaming mug in front of me. The group starts to talk, but more subdued. John and I just make small talk, neither of us wanting to discuss anything important that the group may overhear. After I finish my beer I head upstairs. The group once more falls silent as I walk by. After I get in my room I pull out all the scrolls I bought and learn the following.

  After the scrolls turn to dust I wash up as best as I can. I will have to get a bath in the morning. I look over my stats while laying in bed.