On the other side of the heavy doors, the four only found their loot bundles, but no one else. The dark elf switched his useless chest armour to a decent enough gambeson and armguards from his loot pile for the time being.

“Figures they’ve already headed up without us.” Khan grumbled as he grabbed the tied up bundle of arms and armour.

“That’s all the more reason not to dally around.” Quentin patted him on the shoulder.

Back in the main chamber of the temple, the crowd of injured had already lessened somewhat. Priests and priestesses walked around with sweat covered brows. The four men headed towards the shrines when the girls showed up from the crowd with a large smile on their faces.

“I take it you’ve managed not to die of boredom?” The dark elf asked as they stopped.

“Sister Lithia showed us around and introduced the seven saints to us,” Sophie smiled. “I’ve even received Belmead’s and Thallan’s blessings.”

“Congratulations!” The group said as one.

“Fabien,” Valerie called out to her brother. “Lithia had already explained to me the local saints and their jurisdictions. I’ll help you get started.”

“Thanks, sis!” The young infernal nodded as he followed her.

“I’ll be heading over as well.” Regis said as he walked towards Avenar’s shrine.

As he stood in front of the statue of a hooded figure wielding a magic staff, he bowed slightly in respect.

“I plead to you Avenar, patron saint of spell weavers. I came to seek your goodwill in hopes of your aid!” He prayed quietly and moments later floating words of a myriad colour flickered into his vision.

{Do you wish to make an offering and to pray to Avenar?}

“I do!” The young man said as he rummaged through one of his pouches and placed the two blue shards he earned a few hours prior, along with the incomplete red one he got from the blight rats into the flames at the shrine’s offering bowl. The myriad coloured flames flared up as the stones were devoured, releasing a golden mist that floated towards his shardwaker mark.

{The spirit of Avenar accepted your offering and bestowed a shred of his wisdom upon you.}

{You have learned the rune of fire.}

Regis felt a tinge of headache as the memory of a runic symbol rushed through his thoughts. It seemed that no mortal was able to hide their interests from a divine spirit, not that he felt it to be a worthless trade.

“Thank you for your benevolence!” Regis bowed towards the statue before turning around and picking up his hoard of loot once more.

He headed towards the others when a familiar voice called out his name. Looking over to the entrance, he could see the 9th guard troops walk in.

“I’m glad you’ve made it back in time Norma,” he said. “We were about to head towards the barracks to get our food.”

“Lord Verner kept us busy with his explanation of the new guard schedules and plans for the night defences,” the guardswoman said as she tossed a small pouch towards the youth. “Here’s what you’ve asked for. There were plenty of people there and I asked them to pick out the seeds from their Landwaker’s bounty.”

“Thank you,” he said with a smile. “It must have been awkward to ask for them.”

“They did look at me a bit strangely at the beginning, but once I’ve mentioned that it was for a neophyte wizard, they’ve become much more understanding. Everyone knows that you lot are weird.”

“Thank you?” The young dark elf looked at her confused.

“Don’t mention it. Now get going before all the fresh food gets handed out! And try to rest up a bit. I know that the Landwaker fruit makes you feel rested for a while, but it only lasts for a few hours. After that it will come back at you. Hard.”

“Thanks for the advice and have a good sleep!” He nodded while stashing away the small pouch before grabbing his oversized loot bundle.

“Took you long enough,” Khan said disgruntled. “So, which saint do you pray to?”

“What does it matter to you?” Regis looked at the Asian youth with apprehension.

“I’ll explain it to you later.” Quentin whispered as the group headed forward.

“So,” Valerie spoke up after a minute of walking. “Sister Lithia offered Fabien and me a shared room. It’s not big or anything, but we’ve accepted it anyways. It’s miles better than sleeping on the streets.”

“Same here,” Quentin joined into the conversation. “She introduced me to Father Steon and after the priest I’ve met yesterday joined into our discussion and mentioned that he helped me step on the path of the guardians, the elder priest was more than happy to offer a room for me and Khan to rest in for tonight. He said that the servants of Saintess Elora should keep their own safe. Even if we can only take him up on his offer for a night or two, a warm bed would really help. What about you, Regis? Do you have somewhere to sleep? I’m sure that they could find you a bed or something.”

“Once we get our rations and whatnot, I’ll head back to Bray’s place. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s safe and I like the old guy.”

“Bray,” Amanda repeated his name. “Is he an outlander or a local?”

“He’s a refugee of the Amaranthine lands. I’ve met him on my first night here when I crash landed in the sewers.”

“What were you doing in the sewers?” Sophie turned to look at him, unable to decide whether it was a joke or not.

“I’ve lost a few fingers to a gnarly overgrown rat,” he showed the faint scar line on his left hand. “After taking out a few more and wandering about in the dark, I’ve met Bray and he offered me a place to stay and helped me understand how my Shardwaker’s mark worked. He’s like the grandpa I never knew I had before. I figured that he could use some food and company until I find a way out of here, so I’ll stick around till then.”

“I see,” the giant of a blacksmith woman nodded. “He must be a nice gramps then.”

“Enough with the chitchat,” Khan stepped forward. “We’re here.”

The lines in front of the barracks were still lengthy, so they’d have to wait for a while to get their share of food and clean water. Since they’ve had to wait for quite some time, the dark elf decided to sort out his things in the meantime. He did a quick count on how many seeds he had from Norma and from his own gathering. The numbers added up to seventy-one seeds in total. Once the seed pouch was placed back into the satchel, he decided to count his coins next.

Although he only found fifteen silver coins amongst them, he still had nearly a hundred bronze coins on him. His ragged bandages went down to three, but since he was getting quite proficient with his lesser healing spell, it should be fine. As the line trudged forward slowly, he remembered the old scroll he got from the necromancer priest. Regis pulled out the unsealed scroll from the satchel, so he could check it out before reaching the table. The parchment had a yellowish colour with faded black ink filling it.

At first he felt that the words on it were strange, but then he realized that they were a sort of prayer and also instructions on basic ceremonies. It was of little use to him, since he wasn’t a priest, but when he finished reading it, an unexpected yet pleasant note flickered through the air in front of his eyes.

{You have found and studied a piece of the Church of the Seven Paths’ lore. Your understanding of their holly traditions and magic has increased.}

{Your lore skill reached level 25.}

{Apprentice level lore skill specialization is now available.}

{Your erudition got permanently increased by 1.}

‘This was unexpected!’ He thought as he rolled the scroll back up with a wide smile.

“Quentin,” the dark elf called out to the man behind him. “Have a look at this!”

“What is it?” The dark skinned warrior took the scroll.

“I’ve had a fight with an undead priest before and got my hands on this, but I’ve forgot about it till now. It’s some sort of recollection of a prayer and some church lore. Since you’re trying to become a paladin, I’ve figured this could be of interest to you.”

“Thanks!” Quentin nodded before he unfurled the parchment and began to silently read its contents.

After a couple of boring minutes Regis felt a pat on his back and as he turned around, he found himself looking at a wide smiled Quentin.

“What’s up?”

“Thank you,” he started his thoughts with gratitude. “For you, this scroll might have been just some church lore, but after studying the prayer on the scroll, I’ve gained a new chant.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” the man nodded. “It’s a basic protection prayer that imbues my shield and armour with divine light. I’ve just received a declaration from the Heart. It told me that the prayer temporarily increases my defence by 10% and deals back a quarter of the damage any undead or corrupted creature deals to me as holly damage.”

“Whoa,” Regis whistled. “That sounds quite useful.”

“It is. With this and that shield skill I got from the lord’s mansion, I could fight on the front line with much more confidence. Again, thank you!”

“No worries, it was just a piece of paper for me anyways.”

“What about those enchanted swords,” Khan cut into their conversation. “When will you give them to me?”

“As soon as you can pay for them.”

“Pay? Why would I have to pay for them?”

“Because they’re valuable? Did you think that I’ll just give you a pair of enchanted swords out of the goodness of my heart? We’ve barely known each other for half a day and those short swords are valuable.”

“Oh come on,” Khan looked at him baffled. “You gave Quentin some OP skill and you can’t even give me a pair of simple swords?”

“I gave him a piece of parchment that had no value to me,” Regis growled as he turned towards Khan with his purple eyes glowing unnaturally. “You on the other hand want me to pass up a pair of double enchanted swords that I could trade for magic resources or other stuff just because you want them? No one in their right mind would give you something like that, just because you’re whining around like a snot nosed kid!”

As he said those words, the golden edges around his purple eyes brightened and an invisible force made Khan shiver as he collapsed on his knees. Every guard, mercenary and refuge turned towards them with eyes wide.

{You have infused your willpower with your arcana and fury to deter another creature. You have gained the ‘Arcane Intimidation” skill.}

{Your willpower got permanently increased by 1.}

“Khan!” Quentin reached out to grab the shivering youth to stop him from falling on the ground face first.

“Shit,” the dark elf cursed. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to do it.”

“What happened?” Amanda turned around from afar to see the shivering young man kneeling on the ground, but received no answer.

“I’m sorry,” Khan mumbled. “I promise that I won’t ask about those swords anymore, just don’t do that again! Please!”

“I’m sorry, Khan! I didn’t know that would happen.”

“What did you do, Regis?” Quentin looked at him as he pulled Khan back on his feet.

“I don’t know,” the young dark elf admitted. “I somehow lashed out at him and some weird skill called arcane intimidation was created. I think it’s similar to those fear inducing skills or spells.”

“And you had to blast him with that? I know that he can be tiresome sometimes, but he’s just a kid.”

“I’ve already said I didn’t mean to do it! What else do you want?”

“Those swords would be nice.” Khan mumbled while scratching his pained head.

“Don’t push your luck, idiot!” Quentin said before chanting his healing prayer just in case.

“That skill was terrifying,” the Mongol youth wheezed. “It felt like I fell into a pool of icy water. You seemed so scary at that moment with your glowing eyes that I just wanted to turn around and run.”

“This is weird,” Regis said as he thought it through. “I’ve been using magic since day one and had quite a few moments when I was furious at those undead things, but this skill never showed up before.”

“Perhaps it had some kind of requirement. It doesn’t really matter. Just don’t use it carelessly!”

“Yeah, sure.” Regis agreed as they’ve re-joined the line.

Their accident was followed by a quarter of an hour long awkward silence before it was finally Regis’ turn to get his rations. He stepped in front of the table with the scribe waiting for the wizard to read out his kill list from the night before. What surprised him was that Amanda was standing right next to the mage with her head down. As the young dark elf stepped closer, she looked up at him with a strange expression. The wizard noticed it and called out to her.

“Is he the one you’ve mentioned?”

“Yes, sir.” She answered with a surprising meekness in her voice.

The man eyed him up for a moment before raising his sceptre above Regis’s mark.

“He had recently killed twenty-two 3rd level fallen, seventeen 4th ranked ones, two of the 5th level, one of the 6th and 7th level each. There’s also the residue of another high levelled creature, but it’s incomplete. Care to explain that? This girl here has a similar residue on her, but I want to hear your explanation of the matter.”

“Why? Isn’t hers clear enough?” Regis asked back while gripping his staff.

“She’s not a tiered craftswoman or warrior. The explanation she gave sounded a bit impossible, that’s why I want to hear it from a fellow wizard. Even if you’re not an official neophyte yet, your kill count proves that you have the skill and magic to even the odds.”

“Is this about that fallen knight?” the dark elf turned toward Amanda.

“Yes.” She answered shortly.

“There’s not much to tell. There was an undead knight among the attackers last night. We paired up to confront it. She broke its mount’s legs with her hammer and once on the ground, we took down the bastard together. The Heart allowed us to gather the leftover Amaranth equally since it was a joint effort and since I’ve no use for its armour, she got to keep it.”

“I see,” the wizard stared him in the eye to search for any signs of lying. “Since it was a joint effort, both of you will get it marked down onto your record as a 7th level abomination. This will still count as a meritorious deed and earn you a skill crystal like any other 7th level kill. Just stand aside for a short while. Once my fellow spell caster comes over to relieve me from this post, I’ll take you and the others whom have earned their crystal to the store room.”

“Your earnings are quite substantial,” the scribe behind the table said. “The two skill crystals aside, your kills have earned you almost a nine rations. Do you have anything you’d specifically want? Our reserves are meagre, but trading is always an option.”

“If you can get me some kind of vegetable, any bread, and clean water, that would be the best. The rest can be rations.”

“Fine,” the scribe nodded. “You can get half a loaf of bread with three carrots and a leek. I’ll also get you a medium waterskin of clean water and four rations. Is that good enough?”

“Yes,” Regis nodded as he watched the guard beside the scribe place the abovementioned food into a small sack.