The next morning Raph found that Clark and Oakenpaw were absent, Clark had left a note saying he was going out and Raph shouldn’t worry.

Raph decided to go to The Lucky Pony for breakfast. He’d only been there a few times and never in the morning so he decided to check it out. When he arrived he sat himself down at one of the tables inside, it was much quieter in the morning than it was in the evening. There was only one other group of people, when the waitress came to take his order he asked for whatever was good.

The waitress came back a few minutes later with some kind of sausage and bread, with a bowl of vegetable soup on the side. She also brought him a pot of some kind of tea that was drunk with breakfast, or so she said. As Raph was halfway through his meal a couple of armed men came into the inn, they were wearing the colors of Langreth on their armor; blue and yellow.

The men walked up to the barkeep and exchanged some hush words, to which the barkeep nodded. The men turned around and began to announce.

“Fellow patrons and patriots.” They began, to which Raph rolled his eyes. “Ustral army is recruiting on all levels, including the shepherds.” The man said, reverence in his voice. His words caused the other group to start gossiping as he had clearly said something interesting to them. The soldiers then stuck the recruitment notice on the bar and left.

‘What the hell are the shepherds?’ Raph thought as he finished his breakfast, thinking over the idea of going into the army. ‘What would an army of people with different classes look like?’ When he was finished Raph walked over to the bar.

“Excuse me, barkeep.” Raph said.

“What can I do for you?” The large set barkeep replied.

“Do you know anything about the state of Ustral’s army? And these Shepherds, what are they?” Raph asked again.

“Well, Ustral’s army is actually quite large you see. But the thing is because Langreth is so far away from the front, the recruitment drive is more lax over here. The war with the Braewen Empire has been going on for as long as I can remember, every other month they do something or we do something.” The barkeep paused for a second. “You really never heard of the Shepherds?” he asked.

“Can’t say I have.” Raph said.

“Pfft.” he scoffed at Raph’s response. “The Shepherds are the most decorated unit in the whole army, well maybe besides the king's guard, but you get my point. They’re the best, the most diverse, the most successful, the craziest.”

“Huh, right they sound pretty good I guess.” Raph said.

“Pretty good?” The barkeep spat. “Just pay for yer food and get out kid.”

Raph quickly put a few copper on the table and left. ‘Wow touchy about them clearly.’

Raph read on the notice that the recruitment drive was happening out in front of the castle grounds, so out of curiosity for the Shepherds he decided to check it. He walked over the bridge that separated the two halves of the city, past the library and finally to the castle which he hadn’t seen before.

It was a huge structure made from Langreth’s signature grey stone. The walls that surrounded the castle grounds were 10m high and had a star layout. The castle itself was classically styled with turrets and battlements all over. Countless guards and Knights of all levels could be seen in front and around the grounds.

Erected just in front of the castle's outer perimeter was a kind of temporary tent, with tables and chairs placed inside. There were officers stationed inside and they were helping the new recruits fill out forms and such. Stood in front of the tent was a very imposing looking man, he was muscular, with short black hair and brown eyes. Standing next to him was a beautiful woman maybe a few years older than Raph, she had straw colored hair, a healthy tan and green eyes. They were conversing rather merrily about something but Raph was too far away to hear.

Identify

??? -- Commander Lv.160

??? -- Floraomancer Lv.185

‘Alright, this makes it interesting.’ Raph noticed that as he identified the woman she looked his way. ‘She can’t have known I just identified her, it’s not possible.’

Raph decided to walk up to them and see what they were offering.

“Good day sir, ma’am.” He said as he approached the two.

“Are you a new recruit?” The man asked.

“I haven’t decided yet, I just wanted to get your opinions on the army.” Raph said.

“Our opinions?” The woman laughed. “It’s awful, you should just go back to wherever you came from.”

“Leah!” The man shouted.

“Oops.” She said, clearly not bothered by her counterpart.

The man began quickly to cut Leah off. “I’m Commander Whitlock, and my colleague here is Major Raycraft. Is there anything specific you would like to know?” As he said this he began looking Raph up and down.

“Well, I’d like to know does everyone just join as a recruit or can you join as, I don’t know a lieutenant maybe?” Raph blurted out.

“Ha. He wants to join as a lieutenant.” Commander Whitlock laughed and turned to the Major, he stopped when he noticed she had a very serious look on her face.

“Well.” The Major began. “If you for example joined the Shepherds; you may have a chance to join as a second lieutenant, or even lieutenant yes.”

“Is there some sort of test one has to pass to join?” Raph asked again.

“For the Shepherds? You’re out of your mind.” Commander Whitlock said.

“Well, if you are picked out.” The Major began again. “The candidate would have to pass a combat exam, they would also need to be a certain level, and pass a test on tactics and battlefield skills.” She said succinctly.

“Not that anyone would be able to pass the combat exam.” The Commander muttered.

Ignoring the Commander, Major Raycraft continued. “If you would like to try out for the special squads, the tests are being held tomorrow morning just before midday.”

“Alright, thank you Major. I may be seeing you tomorrow.” Raph said as he turned towards the Commander. “Commander.” He said with a nod and walked away.

The Major stood there, looking in Raph’s direction for a moment. “I couldn’t see his class.” She said.

The Commander turned to her, shocked. “What. How?” He shouted.

“I don’t know.” She said quietly. “But I do hope he comes back tomorrow.”

---

Raph made his way back to the workshop after and the enlightening discussion with the Major and Commander. When he arrived he found Clark and Oakenpaw sitting in the living room.

“Hey Clark, where did you go so early this morning?” Raph asked.

“Sorry boss, I took Oakenpaw to the library to look for some stuff.” He said.

“Oh nice, did you find what you were looking for?” Raph asked again.

“Yeah…” Clark started as Oakenpaw nudged his leg. “The thing is boss, me and Oakenpaw need to leave.”

“Alright, don’t worry about it, where are you going?” Raph asked, unfazed.

“You don’t mind?” Clark said, surprised.

“Why would I mind?” Raph said. “You don’t owe me.”

“But, I do. You took me to the Emerald Grotto to get my class. I wouldn’t have Oakenpaw without you.” Clark explained.

“So?” Raph said nonchalantly.

“So.” Clark said louder. “That’s a big deal.”

“Not for me it isn’t. If you need to leave, that’s cool, don't worry about it.” Raph said again.

“Uhh boss.” Clark stopped trying to protest.”Thank you.”

“Hey before you leave, I will make you some stuff.” Raph said, as an idea formed.

“Well, we aren’t leaving until tomorrow. There’s a city in the Free Lands of Vorenth where many of the Beast Tamer classes congregate so I want to go there. It’s really far, so it will take at least a few weeks to get there by carriage.” Clark explained.

“Oh, that sounds interesting, I guess that will be a good way of improving your skill anyway.” Raph added.

Raph decided to go down to the workshop to prepare some things for Clark before he left. He first wanted to make Clark a pair of daggers and a set of knives, which would help him with his second class. Raph looked around Isaac’s metal store room for something interesting to use to forge the blades, there was lots of Iron and a few other odd looking blocks of metal.

Identify

Deepsea Tin -- Tin taken from the depths of the sea, very dense, water based classes will have a greater affinity with this material.

Snow Steel -- Steel found in the highest points, frozen to the touch, ice and cold based classes will have a greater affinity with this material.

‘No and no.’ Raph said as he kept looking. He moved some more blocks of Iron and steel around until he saw a very dusty but decently sized ingot. He grabbed hold of it and rubbed away some of the dust to reveal a gleaming silver color with an intricate pattern on it.

Identify

Leaf Silver -- A very rare natural silver formed in places of exceptionally strong natural presences. Nature based classes will have a much greater affinity with this material.

‘Bingo.’ Raph said as he pulled out the ingot, it was about the size of his forearm and would be perfect for what he wanted.

Raph heated up the forge and got to work making the pair of daggers. Before he started shaping the metal he increased the mass of his hammers to 700kg and activated Forged Hammers to heat them up. It took Raph around an hour to make the dagger pair and then he began working on the knife set. By the time he was finished Raph was sweating all over but he had a set of shiny silver daggers and ten knives laid out on the bench.

Identify

Leaf Storm (unique) -- A set of two daggers forged for a friend. Increased damage when used by a nature classer.

Blossom Wind (great) -- A knife set that can be used for throwing or a last resort. These were made by a good smith.

‘Good? Well at least it’s getting better.’ Raph thought as he looked at his new creations.

He spent the rest of the day making sheaths for the daggers out of some dark green leather that he found and a belt for the knives.

With the equipment now made he brought them up to Clark in the living room.

“Hey Clark, I have something for you.” Raph said as he took out the daggers and knives and laid them on the table.

“Did you make these?” Clark exclaimed as he fawned over the weapons.

“Yeah, I just made them.” Raph said.

“I don't know what to say Raph.”

“A simple thank you would suffice.”

“Thank you.” Clark said as he hugged Raph. Oakenpaw got up from the floor and rubbed his head against Raph.

“You’re welcome, Clark.” Raph hugged him back and then rubbed Oakenpaw’s head.”Good boy.”

“Look Clark, stay safe out there and don’t do anything stupid.” Raph said and then turned to Oakenpaw. “Keep Clark safe buddy.” He rubbed his head again.

“So Raph, what are you going to do?” Clark asked.

“I actually went to look at the army recruitment today, I might go and try out tomorrow.” Raph said.

“You’re joining the army?” Clark said clearly surprised.

“Well maybe, I’m going to try out for the special squads.” Raph explained.

“Ohh. Well I guess that makes sense, you’re way too strong to be a standard soldier.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Raph, for a level 60 you are really really strong.”

“Am I? Oh, I hadn’t realized.” Raph was confused

“Anyway, try not to cause too much trouble in the army yeah?” Clark said.

“I won’t, I won’t.” Raph giggled. “We both need to get super strong, so I want to see you and your monsters become the very best, like no one ever was.”