“All lazy late risers say AAAH,” a voice said, before a cold torrent of water splashed over Alex. He immediately sat up and cried, “AAAAH.” Leon snorted and Althea laughed, hand before her mouth. The mirth danced in both their eyes. Alex rubbed the sand out of his eyes, glared at them, and shooed the girl away. “I am not decent underneath my blanket.”

Althea turned red, swirled and left at once. Alex grinned at Leon, who was about to turn. “Just kidding,” he laughed. Leon smiled, grinned and then broke out in huge laughter. The boys antics continued, until they caught up with the huntress. Before he could forget to do it, Alex put the essence gains from the day before into [gravitydomain]. The skill was a gigantic boon and had already saved a life. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a system notification for a Tier up.

Alex thought back to the night before. After their discussion about essence evolution, he had finally asked them if they wanted to stay at the sac. His friends took a moment, and Alex had the feeling that his abbreviation wouldn’t catch on. Both nodded in agreement, and Alex was already eager to see what this camp had to offer. Their stories made him curious.

Althea led the boys to a small fenced area. Alex could see some wooden targets, more or less just logs standing upright, with a branch in this or that direction. On the other side of the area, there were some round discs, and Leon pointed at them. “That’s the archery range. I know it doesn’t look like much, but we try to improve it every day. Sadly, the materials are pretty pricey and we mostly have self build targets.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders, he hadn’t even expected that much. As far as he knew, the orphans camp didn’t have anything comparable. Leon gave him a once over and the shadowblade could clearly see, that the boy had questions. “Out with it, I won’t bite,” he grinned. Leon took his bow from his back and began to prepare his weapon. Alex watched him pull the string and twist it a few times around the other end. Then the youth put it under tension to test it. Finally, he asked Alex, “So where is yours?”

He forgot, that only Althea had seen his bow. He grinned mischievously and summoned his weapon. “That’s…That’s not fair…Do you have to oil it? Keep it dry? It takes me nearly an hour of maintenance each evening.” Alex shook his head to each question and finally laughed. Sometimes he really loved this new reality.

As both boys were comparing their weapons, Althea drew a short sword and began to lay into the target logs. At her ruckus, Alex turned. Leon quickly pulled him aside and shook his head. The girl needed to drain her bad temper, apparently and every commentary from the boys would make them the next target of her ire.

Leon eventually showed Alex how to stand. “Try to find a comfortable stand. Centre your weight,” he positioned himself and took a few slow breaths. “The arrow points to your target.” Alex copied the youth. “Don’t pull your shoulders up, relax them,” the youth continued, “and bend your stretched arm a bit.” The shadowblade began to tremble and Leon waved his arm, miming to lower the bow. “Try to watch me a few shots. Afterwards, you’ll copy me, and I’ll try to improve your technique.”

“You have an archer class, right? Is that why you know what to do?” Alex asked while they switched positions. Leon nodded, “Yeah, I had a few lessons when I was younger. Nothing grand, maybe some dozen hours. But my class helps me with the technique. It’s the same with you and your dagger, right?” Alex contemplated the question. He had never thought about that deeply, but as he compared his fighting technique from when he got his class to now, there were definitely major improvements.

Alex missed out on the first shot and silently berated himself. He refocused on Leon and watched every movement the youth made. “Remember, a slow archer is a steady archer, and a steady archer is a good one. If I take a shot every ten seconds, and they hit, I am much better than someone shooting every three or five seconds and only hitting every third or fourth arrow.”

Soon it was the youths turn and he copied Leon, as far as he was able to. The older teenager went and corrected Alex's form with some slight pressure against a knee or an elbow that was too low. As soon as he was satisfied with the youths form, he gave his okay and Alex let the arrow fly. The first hit the target disc and he was elated. Quickly he nocked another arrow, pulled back and let it go. Leon shook his head, and lightly slapped Alex neck. “No, No, No. Take your time with every shot,” he berated the youth.

During a short pause in their training, Alex slid to Althea's side and asked a question, that had jumped through his mind since he got to know her. “Hey, I think it’s cool and all…but why do you have such an unusual name? I’ve never heard it before.” “It’s not my real name,” the girl answered bashfully, “my real name is Jessica, but I hate it and after I was booted from my parents house, I took a name I liked.” Alex nodded, but kept follow-up questions to himself, he saw that the girl didn’t want to talk more about herself. He stepped back to Leon and they continued their training.

“If you’re done playing with your sticks, how about a real fight,” Althea interrupted their training. “With our weapons like that? We could get seriously hurt,” Alex retorted. The huntress laughed, and raised two wooden angles. “Just put the brace on your spear and a crafter can fit it. Hugh isn’t that far away, so even if we hit each other, he can easily heal us.” The girls' idea had merit, Alex thought. He agreed, and grabbed one of the angles. “Come on, Leon, you too. There will come a time when you’ll run out of arrows and the beast stands in front of you…” It took some more egging on, until the boy took the brace while grumbling.

Althea had already played this game several times with Leon and wasn’t miffed. The boy knew this training was important, even more so as he was a hunter and ventured outside the safety of the camp. They quickly found a crafter and let her adjust the braces. The spears were sufficiently dulled and the trio stood opposite each other. This time Althea explained their training and Alex listened.

“The first three fights are without Skills. We’ll use the spear today, tomorrow the shortsword in my case, in your case Alex, the dagger and you can bring your stupid club,” she glanced at Leon. The boy smirked and retorted, “It’s not a club, it’s a mace. Much more sophisticated and noble than a simple club.” Leon winked at Alex and he grinned. “I don’t care what you want to call that thing. Just bring it to the training tomorrow.”

“Pfuh, sometimes…,” she sighed, though continued her explanation, “the three fights afterwards with your support skills. No damage Skill, as they can easily break the brace and injure us.” Alex nodded in understanding and waited for Althea. The girl glanced at both boys and suddenly yelled, “Don’t just stand there like a stuffed dummy. Move Move Move!”

Alex jumped slightly up, and glared at the girl. She nearly broke out laughing as she saw the two boys faces. She pointed at Alex and said, “Come at me, so I can assess your skill level.” Alex suddenly slipped forward, surprising the girl and swung wildly at her. She prepared to block and just before he hit her spear shaft, he pulled both arms back and stabbed at her. The Huntress grimaced and dodged backwards, “You want to play that game?” her glare seemed to say.

Their violent exchange continued for a few more swings and stabs, until the girl surprised Alex and took a step inside his guard. He raised the weapon, but she was faster and with both hands tightly gripped around her spear, shoved the boy backwards. Alex stumbled and tripped. Althea used the lapse of focus and stabbed forwards. In an instant, Alex grabbed her spear and evaded to the side. The Huntress used his momentum and let her spear follow. The swing hit the shadowblade in his side. First blood to Althea.

“Damn, not bad. You must have a monstrous dexterity,” Leon commented from the sidelines. Alex confirmed and added, “not just that, my agility is also pretty good. I think I have a scout or assassin class.” He decided to trust his companions. They would be in more fights, and the more they knew about each other, the safer the group would be.

“That’s pretty cool. My class is simply called Hunter. But I’ve got the specific seed and had a few requirements to fulfill, so I think it’s actually not that bad,” Leon responded to the unasked question. “And I am a Beastmaster,” Althea answered chagrined. “Don’t ask. I know I have no beast companion or anything like that. Haven’t found one yet. Everything either wants to kill me, or is so weak, that I don’t want it.”

“If it’s possible, I’ll help you with getting something,” he smiled at the girl. “Thanks,” she shyly smiled back. Then she clapped her hands and commanded Leon to spar against Alex. This fight went much better and Alex greater experience with the weapon revealed itself. He baited the teenager and evade his stab, before hitting him on his knee. “Leon, you’re down. Good one Alex,” the Huntress commented.

Their spars were pretty balanced. Alex could evade Althea's fast stabs pretty good, but he was bulldozed by Leon, as soon as the teenager accustomed himself to Alex's style. Though the Beastmaster was clearly the most experienced and still led their fights. “Okay, now let’s switch to Skills. Remember, no direct attack Skills,” she directed the boys.

Alex and Althea began their first spar. Alex cast [shadowcurse] and the huntress visibly slowed down. Using that moment of weakness, he quickly slid forward, but a shrill whistle made him stop. “Hey, I thought no attack Skills,” the shadowblade complained. “That’s not an attack Skill,” Althea smirked, “that’s a skill that let’s me command my beast during a fight. If I concentrate, I can whistle louder or quieter.” Alex harrumphed but positioned himself before Althea again.

They restarted their fight and he surprised the girl by casting [shadowcloak] and [shadowclone], switching positions with his clones and effectively distracting her. Althea stayed calm and green energy swirled around her. Suddenly she was a blur in front of Alexs eyes. The Huntress grew several times faster and dispatched his clones with a one-two combo. She held her spear at Alexs neck and the boy stopped moving.

“You need to be better with your clones. They are pretty distracting and I can’t tell you three apart with that weird shadow clinging to you. But they move slower and more clunky than you. So actually it’s easy to find out who is the real Alex,” she explained, while taking back her weapon. Alex nodded, and decided to train more with his skills. With his pure weapon skills, he was nearly Altheas equal, but without and against another thinking being, he was severely disadvantaged. Jokingly he proposed an evening training, when his essence seed would work in concert with the surrounding landscape.

Althea didn’t seem that averse, but didn’t respond. Soon Leon and Alex stood against each other. The shadowblade started with a combo of [shadowcurse], slowing the other boy, then [shadowcloak] and [shadowclone]. He summoned both clones around him, blocking Leons field of view. The slowed teenager responded with a sullen stab. Alex grinned predatorily and stepped forward with his clones. All three stabbing at the teenager.

Leon blurred backwards, dodging the blow. Clearly a Skill at work. Alex grunted, robbed by his easy win and slid at the Hunter. Suddenly Leon stabbed four times extremely quick. Alex was lucky, that his cloak was a bit wavy and the teenager had misjudged Alexs position. “What the hell,” the shadowblade cried out. “Not an attack Skill, it’s a movement Skill, copying my last move,” Leon grinned at Alex. “Not fair,” the teenager pouted.

Their training continued for at least an hour longer and eventually the three stopped. “We should go for another hunt, later. We still have enough lynx left, but it’s always better to plan for the next day,” Althea announced.