Dungeon Noble - Squire

“Right, enough theoretical stuff for now. Let’s split into groups,” Ari called out, moving away from the other two and holding a hand up. “Choose one of the three of us and split into roughly even groups.”

Jake didn’t hesitate before heading to Ari, wanting to stick with the person he was the most familiar with.

There were around thirty of them in total, so each group was ten strong, allowing for a more direct conversation with the Classer leading them.

Surprisingly, Jake found himself standing next to the muscular Classer from breakfast, and they shared a nod before turning their attention to Ari.

“Okay, so, first things first, Wyrdgeld.” Ari held up a hand, a single blood-red coin appearing between his fingers. “Wyrdgeld is Wyrd made solid; it is pure magic, and it is the way you will advance your Classes and purchase things from other Classers. How do you gain Wyrdgeld?”

“Killing monsters?” One of the other Classers responded hesitantly.

“Good. Any other ideas?” Ari waited a moment before continuing. “The other way to gain Wyrdgeld is to complete sections of a Dungeon. Challenge rooms and Guardian floors both provide reward chests from the Dungeon, which contain both Dungeonous materials and raw coinage. We’ll go into all of that more when you start your actual delves, though.”

Jake nodded, drinking in the information as best he could as he tried to picture what an actual Dungeon would look like.

“So, Wyrdgeld is solidified Wyrd, but what does that mean?” Ari asked rhetorically as he flicked the coin into the air before catching it. “Wyrd is the power of the System. It is the fundamental energy of your magic, and without it, you are limited to your own strength. Who here has an active Skill?”

The big man next to Jake raised his hand, as did most of the others, leaving Jake feeling somewhat left out.

“You, give us your name and read out your Skill for everyone,” Ari pointed at the man next to Jake. “Oh, if it’s something weird or dangerous to share, just say so. No need to give out secrets.”

“My name is Karl, and my Skill is called ‘Weak Infused Hammer.’ The description is, ‘You are able to infuse your hammer with a minor amount of Wyrd, strengthening your blows and adding further weight to your strikes.’ I haven’t used it yet, though.”

“Good, a perfect example. As you heard, the Skill consumes a minor amount of Wyrd, which means you can only use it when you have Wyrd to spare, which you gain in one of three ways. Passive regeneration, killing monsters or consuming Wyrdgeld. The amount of Wyrd inside a single Wyrdgeld is minuscule in comparison to killing a monster, but it provides a potentially lifesaving option.”

Jake lapsed into thought as a few other of the new Classers gave their Skills, each fitting a similar pattern to what Karl had shared.

“Alright, so we understand how Skills work. Now, let’s talk about raw manipulation and gaining Skills.” Ari called out, bringing their attention back to him. “You gain Skills by demonstrating sufficient skill or proficiency in something. The better you are, the better the Skill you could gain. The Skill won’t be directly what you show, but it’s always linked. One of the earliest Skills anyone can get is for infused blows, and all you need for that is to infuse your weapon with Wyrd manually and hit a monster.”

Ari launched into a rough explanation of how to manipulate their Wyrd, which Jake followed absently, most of his focus on finding the well of power inside them that Ari was talking about.

Surprisingly, it was easy enough to find the Wyrd stored within himself, and moving it around inside him was fairly straightforward as well.

None of them had weapons to hand, so practising their control was as much as they could do for now.

“Okay, I think you’ve all got the hang of that, so what I want you to do now is to concentrate your Wyrd in your eyes, but without any intent or desire behind it.”

Jake frowned at the odd request but did as he was instructed, concentrating the amorphous energy inside him into his eyes.

Nothing happened at first bar a slight itching feeling, one that abruptly intensified, making Jake wince at the pain. Thankfully, the sensation lasted only a moment, and what it revealed was more than enough to warrant the discomfort.

The Classers around Jake looked the same as before, but there was now a slight translucency to them, and Jake could see a faint grey echo inside them that traced out their body.

Looking over to Ari, Jake felt his eyes widen as he saw the same effect on the older man, but where Karl and the others had faint echoes, Ari was all but glowing with grey energy.

“Before all of you start panicking, what you’re experiencing currently is the foundation of Skills to boost your vision, but it’s primarily used to get an accurate understanding of how close someone is to death. The grey light you see inside us all is the manifestation of our souls. Monsters of a certain strength can damage your soul directly, to the point that not even a Dungeon can bring you back if your body dies. This technique lets you judge that, but we don’t need to go into the details right now.”

Jake and the others spent some time practising the technique, trying to get to the point that they could reliably activate it. While they worked, a few assistants brought in some tables and stacked them with various types of weapons.

“Alright, time for some more practical training,” Ari called out, clapping his hands with an eager grin that had a malicious air to it. “Grab a weapon and try it out. Once you’re satisfied with your choice, come back to your instructor, and we’ll have a quick spar. Following that, you’ll be assigned into groups for training. We intend a week of training here in the Guild. After that, we’ll be heading to the Dungeons.”

Jake tried to suppress his excitement as he hurried over to the tables, naturally moving over to where he saw a selection of small blades.

Jake’s years at the orphanage hadn’t been the most peaceful, and he knew enough about knife fighting to keep himself alive. Picking up one that was close enough to what he was used to, Jake rolled the grip in his hands before putting it back down.

He might know more about close and fast fighting like that, but it didn’t feel right to be the weapon that he first used after his Ascension.

This was a new life for him, an opportunity to move forward and make more of himself. If he was going to do it, he wanted to do it properly.

Turning away from the table with the small blades, Jake looked over the rest, eyeing the array of hammers, maces, polearms and everything else that was there.

The thought of fighting monsters made Jake consider the polearms or the spears, anything to give him more range and let him keep his distance.

Logically, they made sense, but Jake’s gaze kept coming to rest on the swords. Ari had said to pick what felt right for them, and when Jake considered going into a fight, he pictured himself with a blade.

Jake was tall, but he lacked the muscle for something like a greatsword, even with his new Trait. He’d already decided against small blades so that just left the swords.

Picking out something that looked right, Jake took one of the sword belts available before returning to Ari.

“Sword user, is it?” Ari asked, eyeing the way that Jake was holding the blade and quirking a brow. “You’re holding that all wrong. You sure you don’t want something smaller and nastier?”

“I’m sure,” Jake said firmly, bringing his sword up into what he assumed was a guard stance.

“Alright then, let’s put you to work,” Ari said as he grabbed a practice greatsword from where it was propped up against the wall.

The spar that followed was eye-opening for Jake.

Ari was faster, stronger and better trained than Jake, and despite the size and weight of his blade, he made it dance through the air and deliver hit after hit as he took Jake apart.

Jake tried everything he knew, but Ari was simply on another level, and all Jake managed to do was get himself more thoroughly beaten down.

“Alright, that’s enough of that, I think,” Ari said, waving for Jake to pick up his sword from where it had fallen after their last exchange. “You’ve been in a fight, but you’ve got a lot to learn, that’s for sure.”

-**-

The training continued for the rest of the day, with the new Classers being split down into smaller groups based on their weapon of choice.

Each group alternated between sparring with each other under the watchful eyes of Guild members and being instructed by them on how to improve.

Surprisingly, Jake found himself enjoying the training, and despite not really knowing much about sword fighting, he started to pick up a few things.