James sat on a park bench and watched the river slowly flow past. It had been five days since the funeral, and Juan Carlos took the opportunity to spend time with the family. He was pleasant company, but Veronika was tired of his constant hovering. She was eight years older than him, yet he felt the need to be the protective big brother. It frustrated Juan Carlos that James would appear and disappear without a trace and everyone seemed to be okay with it. It took Ferdinand stepping in, at one point, to remind Juan Carlos to respect the privacy of their guest.

That drama aside, James had not been idle. The mornings he spent at the Del Torro residence. He continued to practice his Slight of Hand with Veronika and her Lady in Waiting. The early afternoon was spent with Jones and learning the finer arts of being soundly beaten. James thought Jones liked beating on someone who could still get up afterwards. Jones explained that we learn more from defeat than from victory.

Mid-afternoon and early evening were spent in Sharbot Falls, pretending to be a wool merchant and talking with people. He couldn't find much information about Roland, but he did learn more about the part of the military he was attached to. Roland was a commander of a cavalry unit made up of a couple of hundred soldiers. They were not knights but mounted soldiers. They also included mounted archers and mounted scouts. Roland didn't spend much time in the city but in a garrison to the west. From what James was able to gather, Roland and his men came to the city about once a week for staff meetings, to pick up supplies, to drop off soldiers going on leave, to pick up soldiers coming back from leave and for other personal reasons. The fact that this man worked as a stable hand in a small town baffled James. Sometimes we do strange things for the family.

Two ventures broke up the routine of the past five days into a Dungeon. The first Dungeon was called The One Horned Minotaur, which was odd. The Minotaur didn't have a broken horn but had one horn coming out of the centre of his forehead. He looked more like a rhino than a minotaur. The first time the horn hit James was due to a charge almost killing him. The charge did more than 300 damage and sent James flying through the air and into a stone wall that did more damage. James quickly learned that Dodge was not automatic and that some Skilled negated Dodge. He had to rely on Shadow Step and Shadow Form to avoid the charging bull. Fortunately, the Minotaur was not very bright and relied heavily on his one trick. Once that was circumvented, he was easy to put down. James didn't realize it was possible, but instead of gaining an item as a reward, he earned an Advantage.

Congratulations! You have gained the Advantage Charge.

This Advantage requires that you move in a straight line, at a run, for three seconds. Targets you hit with a shield or a melee weapon, take Triple Damage from the successful attack. Targets are Knocked Back one meter and have a chance of being knocked Prone. This Advantage costs 50 Stamina to activate.

The Advantage was intense but also very specific in when it can be used and how effective it would be. He also learned that while the Advantage was active and running, he could not activate any other Stamina-based abilities.

The second Dungeon he completed was called Home Grown. James was expecting a drug den of some sort, but in truth, it was a Jungle filled with apes, many armed with blow guns with poison and stone spears. The final fight was not a challenge as the Dungeon was only level 12, but the design was excellent and utilized the environment effectively. James was hard-pressed at the time to use his training to avoid detection, locate traps and isolate targets. Before leaving, he complimented the Dungeon Core and offered to discuss the design with it in person, but the Dungeon Core ignored the request, and James exited the Dungeon with no chance to speak with the Core directly. James did earn an interesting Enchanted item in the form of a book. Rocko explained to him that it was a Skill Book that would either teach someone a Skill up to a specific level or boost their rate of learning that Skill for a set period of time. The value of the Books depended on the Skill and level being learned. The Book James was given was for the Skill Survival at level 10. The Book was valuable.

James had yet to decide if he would learn the Skill or sell the Book. Rocko estimated the value at 600 gold and was the equivalent of a Rare Enchanted item. The other nice reward was James reached level 16. Because he was not running through never completed Dungeons, his growth had slowed down a little, but he made up for it with the increase in his Skills. Four of his Skills had reached level 10, earning him a bonus.

Congratulations! The back Attack has reached level 10.

All Back Attack damage is increased by 25%.

All Back Attacks have an additional 10% chance of becoming a Crit. Congratulations! Meditation has reached level 10.

While using this Skill, all Regeneration increased by 25%.

Awareness is extended to 1 meter. Congratulations! Melee - Glrick (M) has reached level 10.

Increased accuracy - 5%

Increased damage - 10%

Increased crit. chance - 5% Congratulations! Negotiation has reached level 10.

Negotiations shift in your favour by 10%.

The last thing James reviewed was his new Status Screen.

Name: James Gleason Race: Glrick Class: Shadow Knight Specialization: Level: 16 XP to next level: 6287/7000 Armour Rating: 48 Age: 42 Rank: 657 Unarmed Damage: 31 Health: 470 Glrick Sword: 1d6 + 54 Stamina: 170 Bow of Piercing: 2d6 + 47 Mana: 424 Mana Regen/Min 7.07 PSI: 654 PSI Regen/Min 10.90 ATTRIBUTES Unspent Attribute Pts: 32

Strength **

26 Agility 28 Dexterity 20 Endurance 18 Willpower 22 Intelligence ** 39 Charm 22 Luck 20 SKILLS Unspent Skill Pts: 17 Acting 6 Analyze 16 Armour – Medium 16 Astral Navigation 10 Back Attack 10 Crit Strike – Sword 9 Deception 7 Evasion (M) 15 Info Gathering 13 Inspect 17 Meditation 10 Melee – Glrick (M) 12 Melee – Knife 3 Melee – Sword 5 Melee – Unarmed 5 Negotiation 13 PSI – Targeted 12 Ranged – Short Bow 4 Perception (M) 12 Res – Mental 7 Res – Debuff 8 Res – Fire 2 Res – Pain 12 Res – Poison 9 Shield 19 Slight of Hand 8 Stealth 18 Swimming 4 Unspent Advantage Pts 145

* Modified by an Enchanted Item (+3)

** Modified by an Enchanted Item (+5)

"Well?" James asked Rocko.

"It is impressive, considering the time we had to get this far," Rocko acknowledged

"But?" James encouraged.

"Your Stealth and Melee Skills should be in the forties, at least. Information Gathering should not be far behind. Your Armour and Shield Skill should be at your Intelligence. Your Resistance based Skills should be in the high twenties and your Astral Navigation and PSI Targetting Skill should be over twenty. That is my goal for you before you reach level 20. Otherwise, you are going to enter a Tier 3 Dungeon and going to be woefully unprepared. On top of that, Any Champion over Level 20 is going outperform you in Skills," Rocko stated frankly.

James sat back, a bit shocked, "I didn't think it was that bad."

Rocko shook his head, "It is not that bad. But it is not that great either. You have two months before we reach the six-month mark. At that point, you need to have your Skills maxed out. You have a huge advantage because your Intelligence is improved with each level. Fighters-type Champions don't have that Advantage and are constantly sinking points into Intelligence. You saw that with the Were Tiger. Now you have the opposite problem. You can't get your Skills up fast enough."

"Suggestions?" James asked.

"Cheat," Rocko said without hesitation.

James smiled, "How do I cheat?"

"Simple," Rocko started, "Use the same Potions you gave to the girls. They will boost the rate of your Skill growth by a lot. The problem is the cost. You are getting 500 gold a day from Glezda, but the Potions are expensive, and they only last for an hour, but you could increase your growth by 50%."

James thought about it, "That is expensive."

"You may be able to find a supply. Ten Potions for 500 gold is doable, and that will give you ten hours of a 50% bonus," Rocko explained.

"Any Enchanted items that give a bonus to Experience?" James asked.

"No," Rocko shook his head, "That would be nice, but no. Only the Potions."

"Alright. Why didn't you suggest this last week," James inquired.

Rocko shrugged, "Needed a baseline. It was needed to see how you were doing without the Potions. I don't think two months is going to be enough time."

James frowned, "Really?"

"When you get to level 20 in a Skill, you will see a significant slow down in progress. The only way to get past it is by focusing on improving. I would focus more on training with Jones," Rocko recommended. "Increase your Armour, Melee, Evasion and Shield Skills. Then, when you are in a Dungeon, focus on Stealth."

"I thought you wanted me to focus on building a Shadow Network of Spies?" James asked.

"I still do, but there are not enough hours in the day for you to get good at everything. So, unless you plan on hiding in the Shadows and never picking up a weapon, you must be prepared. We can still build the groundwork for the Network, but that will take time."

"So, focus on combat training for now?" James confirmed.

"Yes, you will need to get a good supply of Potions, but I am confident we can maximize your training," Rocko confirmed.

James groaned, "This is going to hurt."