As the group walked through the broken streets of the ancient city they looked around in awe at the massive buildings and the lumps of rusted metal that had long since lost their original shape, though they had lived in Greenhearth for months now this was by far the closest they had been to these colossal structures. This was of course due to the monsters that could usually be found roaming the area.

These monsters had been cleared out by the Adventurers who had been hired by the Adventurers School and were now patrolling the city to make sure the test wouldn’t be interrupted. The Adventurers mostly nodded and smiled as the group passed but there were a few who could not hide the jealousy they felt. This was because all Adventurers knew that those who made it into an Adventurers School were among the most talented of their generation, so it couldn’t be helped that some people felt jealous of them.

Pointing out over the rusted lumps of metal that lined the street Zerah pointed out a particularly large structure in the distance.

“That’s the location of the entrance we will be using for this test,” Zerah announced.

The Dungeon outside of Greenhearth known as the Twisted Forest. This was because like most dungeons it started with small floors that were little more than underground tunnels, but these soon opened up into vast caverns containing forests far larger than the Zone that Kyle had visited previously. It was not unusual for Dungeons to have multiple entrances as whatever intelligence the Dungeon possessed was concentrated almost entirely around attracting more people into its depths so that it could absorb the Mana that was left behind when they died.

Each of these entrances also held slightly different challenges whether they be different types of monsters or traps that the Dungeon created. This test would force them into a situation at the limits of their capabilities by putting them in a situation where they are at a disadvantage forcing them to learn their own weaknesses and grow. It was also for this reason that the Teachers were supervising them; despite this being a very harsh test for their students the school could not afford to allow them to come to harm.

Kyle was already quite ware of his weaknesses as they had been made painfully obvious over the past few months. Things went fine when Reginald placed no limits on the Skills that his students could use in class but a lot of the time, he made sure to add restrictions forcing them to learn different ways of fighting. Most of the time this meant that Kyle wasn’t allowed to use his magic which was the major source of his advantage over his fellow students and when he was prevented from doing so his chances of winning in a fight dropped drastically.

This was because for someone who still only had a Tier 1 Class Kyle’s Stats were too spread out and the main Skill provided to him by his Class Chain Fighting was one of his lowest Levelled Skills and he often found himself forced into a situation where he had to use his Hand to Hand Combat Skill to make up for this weakness which in turn made it harder for him to level up his Chain Fighting Skill. This coupled with the inherent low damage dealt by the Chains themselves led to him being beaten by his classmates more often when he wasn’t allowed to use magic.

Things would balance themselves out a bit once he obtained a Tier 2 Class which often gave more spread out Stats especially those Classes that were a combination of two different types of Class such as a Caster/Tank hybrid like his father or a Rogue/Caster hybrid like his mother but until then if he kept spending his Stat Points in the same way that he had been the gap between him and his classmates would only grow.

Learning about Tier 2 Classes had also been part of the curriculum for the Adventurer School as the choices that they made now would lead to the Classes that they would be able to select once they reached Level 5. Not only this but the terms used for the different types of Classes. That is to say things like ‘Tank,’ ‘Caster’ and Rogue.’ These terms apparently originated from the world that the Humans had originally come from. Where other Races had access to things like magic and had the occasional group of monsters appear the world that the Humans originally came from had no magic and no monsters causing the Humans to develop in a very different way to the other Races. This difference was technology the Humans had been the ones who had built the massive cities like the one that they were currently walking through using their technology to perform feats that other Races would be hard pressed to copy with magic. Of course, this had made little difference when the worlds were combined to form the current one as most of the technology that they had was destroyed both in the events that led to the various worlds being combined and by the monsters that followed. Still it had led to one of the few advantages that the Humans had over the other Races. Where they had once believed magic and monsters to be things of myth these were now commonplace as were things like Skills and Classes which were things that many of those who survived were quite familiar with as before the events that led to the creation of this new world there had been a number of popular pastimes that used similar Systems known as video games. This name was now considered offensive by most for obvious reasons, but it was these similarities that allowed the Humans who would have otherwise never survived to become one of the most common Races in the world.

This revelation had come as a surprise to most of the students who had previously assumed that all the worlds and Races had all had the same or at least a similar amount of knowledge but their teachers had been quick to correct this assumption explaining that each of the different Races brought different things and knowledge with them. For example, the Humans had for the most part some advance knowledge of how the System worked but the elves had the greatest knowledge of magic of all the Races except perhaps the Gnomes who specialised in creating items that were powered by magic such as Golems. It was believed that these advantages were there for the purpose of forcing the Races to work together and learn from each other so that they could all grow stronger.

As Kyle thought about this, he suddenly realised that Hal was glaring at him.

“What?”

“You haven’t been paying attention to anything Zerah’s been saying have you?”

“Uh, no?”

“Dude…” Hal groaned. “This is the big test you have to pay attention to stuff like that.”

“Sorry man, what’s up?”

“She’s collecting information on our Stats and stuff so that the school knows just how much we’ve grown in the Dungeon.”

“Alright,” Kyle nodded. Once they had become students at the Adventurers School the teachers had started doing things like this every now and again as this was by far the best way to keep track of their students’ progress. They wouldn’t ask for this sort of personal information on people that weren’t students at the school but checking up on their students’ progress was important to make sure that they were putting in the right amount of work. In fact, this had caused Kyle some problems due to his low Chain Fighting Skill Level, but he still agreed with the practice on a whole.

“Fi can you bring up everything?” he asked causing his companion to snort in irritation as Hal hadn’t been the only one trying to break him out of his daydreaming, but she did as she was asked without complaining.

Statistics

Name: Kyle Fergusson

Race: Aethereal Human

Level: 2

Class: Chain Fighter

HP: 120/120

HP regen: 1.1 p/s

MP: 141/141

MP regen 6.5 p/s

SP: 120/120

SP regen 6 p/s

Str: 10(8)

Dex: 16(10)

Agi: 17(12)

Con: 11(9)

End: 12(10)

Int: 12(11)

Wis: 11(11)

Will: 11(11)

Exp to next Level: 83%

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Kyle glanced over his Stats as Zerah wandered over to him having finished checking out everyone else. As she didn’t have the ability to check things like other people’s Stat Screens herself, she was currently wearing an enchanted item that took the appearance of a pair of glasses to allow her to do so.

“Hmm, you’re probably reaching the limits of how much you can train your Stats at the moment,” she noted as she started taking notes. When a human reached around a base number of 10 in a Stat, they began to approach the limits of what they were able to raise these Stats to with just training at least before they obtained a Tier 2 Class, it was actually already fairly impressive that Kyle had managed to raise four of his Stats above 10 but even that was only due to the amount of work he had been putting in.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking,” Kyle sighed glancing irritably at the number next to his Constitution. No matter what he did it refused to go any higher than 9 just with training. He could still put Stat Points into it when he Levelled Up, but it was still annoying especially when he knew that Hal’s base Constitution was as high as his own Agility without even considering the Stats he got from his Class.

“Don’t worry about it too much Kyle,” Zerah said. “We all have things that we are naturally good at and things that we aren’t. Anyway, let’s have a look at your Skills now.”

Skills (Expanded)

Class Skills

Chain Fighting-Mastery

Proficiency Level 6-62% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to fighting with chain weapons. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses- 1 Bonus available for purchase

Increases damage dealt with Chain Weapons by 10%

Sub-Skills

· Lash- Increases damage dealt by 10%. Costs 10 SP

· Entangling Coils- Slows entangled enemies by 10% for 5-10 seconds. 5% chance for entangled enemy to be knocked down for 10 seconds. (The chain used for this Skill will be unusable for the duration of this Skill) Costs 15 SP. Cooldown 30 seconds.

· Whirlwind Stance- This stance increases attack speed and weapon damage by 2% with each consecutive attack up to a maximum of 20%. If an attack misses the bonuses reset. Cost 5 SP per second. Duration: Variable. Cooldown: 2 minutes

· Smash- An Overhead Swing that deals 20% extra Damage and has a 10% chance to stun the target. Cost 20 SP. Cooldown 10 seconds.

Light Armour-Mastery

Level 8-61% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to the use of Light Armour. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses- 1 Bonus available for purchase.

Increases Magic Defence provided by Light Armour by 8%

Sub-Skills

· Magic Armour- Increases effects of temporary Enchantments placed on equipped Light Armour by 15%

Medium Armour-Mastery

Level 10-9% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to the use of Medium Armour. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses- 2 Bonuses available for purchase.

Increases Physical Defence provided by Medium Armour by 10%

Sub-Skills

· Well worn- Decreases the amount of Durability lost by 10%. Passive

Acrobatics-Mastery

Proficiency Level 5-71% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to evasive techniques. Unlocks related Sub-Skills

Current Bonuses- 1 Bonus available for purchase.

Increases dodge chance by 10%

Sub-Skills

· Dodge Roll-An evasive roll that cancels any action. Costs 5 SP. Cooldown 3 seconds.

· Leap- Allows the User to quickly leap anywhere in a 5-meter radius. Costs 10 SP. Cooldown 5 seconds.

Non-Class Skills

Unarmed Combat-Mastery

Level 15-47% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to fighting unarmed. Related sub-skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses

Increases damage dealt by unarmed attacks by 15%

Increases the damage dealt by punches by 10%

Increases the damage dealt by kicks by 5%

Sub-Skills

· Leg Sweep-Increases damage by 5%. 20% chance to cause Knockdown. Costs 5 SP. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

· Hook- Increases damage by 10%. 10% chance to stun for 2-5seconds. Costs 10 SP

· Living Weapon - Allows unarmed attacks to benefit from the Blunt Weapons Skill. Passive

· Choke hold- Holds the target in place and deals 5 SP and 2HP damage p/s. When SP is depleted HP damage is doubled. Costs 15 SP per second for a human-sized target with a lower Strength Stat than the User. Extensive use will cause the target to lose consciousness. May be used with an appropriate weapon (decreased SP cost on larger targets).

· Rush- A flurry of attacks that deal 80% of normal damage at 125% of normal attack speed. Cost 25 SP. Duration 15 seconds. Cooldown 1 minute.

Blunt Weapons-General

Level 8-33% to next Proficiency Level

Increases the amount of Blunt damage dealt by weapons.

Current Bonus

Increases Blunt damage by 8%

Piercing Weapons-General

Level 4-42% to next Proficiency Level

Increases the amount of Piercing damage dealt by weapons.

Current Bonus

Increases Piercing damage dealt by 4%

Physical Conditioning-Mastery

Level 9-31% to next Proficiency Level

Provides Bonuses to HP and SP. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses- 1 Bonus available for purchase

Increases HP by 9%

Sub-Skills

· Thick Skin – Increases Physical Defence by 5%.

Psychic Prowess- Mastery

Level 2 -45% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that unlocks access to Mental Energy Skills. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonus

Decreases MP and SP costs of all Mental Energy Skills by 2%

Sub-Skills

· Telekinesis- A Mental Energy Skill that allows the User to move objects with their mind. Cost 15 MP and 15 SP per second for objects 100g or less and doubling every 50g after that. Range 5m.

· Sense Intent- A Mental Energy Skill that allows the User to detect whether or not something wishes them harm. Cost 10 MP 10 SP. Cooldown 10 seconds.

Dual Wielding- General

Level 3- 13% to next Proficiency Level

General Skill that decreases the reduction to accuracy caused by using two weapons.

Current Bonus

Right Hand accuracy reduction 22%

Left Hand accuracy reduction 47%

Racial Skills

Mana Manipulation- Mastery (Trait based Racial Skill)

Level 11-32% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that unlocks Magic Schools. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses – 2 Bonuses available for purchase

Decreases MP cost of spells by 11%

Unlocks Magic Schools Slots-2 Slots available

Unlocks ‘Mana’ School of Magic

Magic School Slots-2/2

· Mana -Basic Magic School Unlocked by the Mana Manipulation Skill

· Enchanting- A school that allows the caster to add various Magical effects to equipment.

Sub-Skills

· Meditation- Increases MP regen by 10% when seated. Passive.

· Chain Casting- Decreases Casting Time by 10% when using the same spell repeatedly. Passive.

Jack of All

Level 1- This Skills Proficiency Level can only be upgraded using Skill Points.

A Human Racial Skill provides boosts to gaining Skills.

Current Bonuses

Adds 1 additional Skill Slot

Sub-Skills

None

Will Made Manifest-Mastery (Rare)

Proficiency Level 1- Can only be upgraded by spending Skill Points

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses based off the Willpower Stat. Related Sub-skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses

Increases Mana Regen by 0.1 per point of Willpower.

Sub-Skills

· Suppression Aura- Creates an Aura of Mental Energy that deals 1% of Willpower as damage per second and creates a 10% chance that enemy Skills and Spell will fail to activate. Radius of 10m. Cost 20% of total MP and 20% of total SP per second.

· Pain Spike- A Mental Energy attack that attacks the targets mind directly dealing 3-5 damage with a 10% possibility to stun for 1 second. Cost 7MP + 4SP. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

· Mind Storm- A Mental Energy attack that uses a storm of telekinetic energy to deal 20% of Willpower as damage over an area every 2 seconds. Cost 30 MP 20 SP. Duration 10 seconds. Radius 1 metre. Cooldown 1 minute.

Skill Slots-2/10(+1)

Skill Points-10

“Hmm, Reginald mentioned that you were having trouble with your Chain Fighting Skill, so I’m not surprised that that Skill seems to be dragging be hind a little but at least the others seem to be growing well,” Zerah said causing Kyle to wince.

“Yeah now that they’ve gotten used to fighting against me my classmates seem to find it pretty easy to dodge or deflect my attacks,” he replied.

“You can purchase a new Bonus for the Skill is there one that can increase your accuracy?” Zerah asked.

“Yeah but I want to get the Inscriptions Skill first,” Kyle sighed. He had been tempted to get the new Bonus, but he figured that unlocking the new Skill was more important.

“Just unlock it,” Zerah told him shaking her head. “Normally I wouldn’t care either way but we’re going to the Dungeon today, so you’ll be gaining access to the Merit System.”

Kyle blinked, he had completely forgotten about the Merit System. The Merit System was something that the System used to entice people to enter Dungeons as if all they gained was the experience the System usually gave them less people would due to the massively increased danger most Dungeons posed. So instead of simply gaining experience when you killed a monster in a Dungeon you would receive Merit Points instead. These points could then be used to purchase things like Experience, Skill Points, common Skills and those with Companions could even purchase Ability Points for their Companions. It was also much more useful for him in the long term as it would allow him to avoid reaching Level 5 too fast. The students weren’t allowed to enter the Dungeon too often because of the Merit System essentially meaning that they could avoid Levelling Up and stay in the Adventurers School indefinitely. There was a limit to the amount of Merit Points one could spend before the System forced you to convert them to Experience which was dependant on your Level, this was because if you didn’t Level Up eventually and you kept going deeper into the Dungeon you would be killed easily by the increasingly powerful monster that lived in its depths.

The Merit System actually existed to help those in Tier 2 Classes and above obtain more Skill Points as all Tier 2 Classes gained the ability to upgrade their Sub-Skills by using Skill Points and Tier 3 Classes could even combine certain Skills together to create specialised Skills of their own, but this cost a lot of Skill P. It was possible for Tier 2 Classes to have these combined Skills as well but only if they were Class Skills. These new uses for Skill Points made them a very valuable commodity meaning that you could never have enough, so the Merit System ensured that there would be no shortage of Adventurers raiding Dungeons so that they could gain more Skill Points.

What sealed the deal for Kyle as far as purchasing this Bonus was concerned was that his Chain Fighting Skill would grow faster if he could hit what he was aiming at more often and asked Fi to purchase the accuracy Bonus which cost 5 SP.

Skill Updated

Chain Fighting-Mastery

Proficiency Level 6-62% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to fighting with chain weapons. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses

Increases damage dealt with Chain Weapons by 10%

Increases accuracy with Chain Weapons by 6%

Sub-Skills

· Lash- Increases damage dealt by 10%. Costs 10 SP

· Entangling Coils- Slows entangled enemies by 10% for 5-10 seconds. 5% chance for entangled enemy to be knocked down for 10 seconds. (The chain used for this Skill will be unusable for the duration of this Skill) Costs 15 SP. Cooldown 30 seconds.

· Whirlwind Stance- This stance increases attack speed and weapon damage by 2% with each consecutive attack up to a maximum of 20%. If an attack misses the bonuses reset. Cost 5 SP per second. Duration: Variable. Cooldown: 2 minutes

· Smash- An Overhead Swing that deals 20% extra Damage and has a 10% chance to stun the target. Cost 20 SP. Cooldown 10 seconds.

Hearing this Zerah nodded and took a note on the clipboard that she was writing on, to hide the fact that she was pleased with his decision. A lot of kids his age wouldn’t have listened to her and wasted the opportunity that the Merit System provided.

Kyle also took the time to look over a few of the new Sub-skills that he had created, Smash was a useful Skill that could be learned for most blunt weapons and was considerably more powerful than Lash and could even stun opponents but also cost more SP to use. Chain casting was something that he had unlocked while mastering his spells, specifically the spells from the Mana School which had a fairly low cost and cooldown time compared to his Enchantments allowing him to deal much more damage in a short time. Rush was similar to Chain Casting and allowed him to attack much faster with a slight reduction in damage, it also made him less accurate because of this leading to some wild swings that had gotten him hit more than once. Mind Storm was perhaps his most dangerous new Skill, it didn’t do that much damage by itself at the moment but anything that was caught in it was sent flying and Figz thought that if it was used on a group of weak enemies, they would be torn to shreds by the shrapnel formed from their own bodies causing Kyle to turn a little green. However perhaps one of his most useful new Skills was actually the one that did no damage at all by itself, Leap allowed him to move around much easier allowing him to execute hit and run attacks with far greater ease and keep at a safe distance in combat.

“Alright Fi, let’s have a look at my magic now,” Kyle said when he had finished looking over his Skills.

Fi nodded and brought up the final screen, she had been surprised that Kyle had agreed to purchase the Bonus for his Chain Fighting Skill and made a note to remind him that his Physical Conditioning Skill had a Bonus that increased his SP

School List-0/2 Slots available

Mana School

Rank 21- Master 1 Spell to increase Rank

Spells

· Mage Light-Creates a ball of stationary light. MP Cost: variable. Casting time: instant. Duration: variable. Cooldown: 5 seconds. Mastered.

· Mana Bolt (IV)- Fires a small orb of Mana at an enemy. Deals 14-17 Magic Damage. Area of effect 0.5m. Costs 10 MP. Casting time: 1 second. Mastered.

· Mana Barrier (III)- Creates a small barrier of Mana that can be used to block attacks. 4 Damage blocked per 10 MP spent. Casting time: Instant. Cooldown 3 seconds. Mastered.

· Mana Enhancement (III)- Allows the caster to strengthen their physical bodies with Mana. Cost: variable. Strength, Dexterity and Agility increased by 1 stat point each. Cost: 20 MP per second Cooldown: 30 seconds. Mastered.

· Mana Darts (IV)- Creates small projectiles made of Mana which can be fired at enemies. Each dart causes 8-12 Magic Damage. Cost: 3 MP per projectile (Max 5). Casting time instant. Cooldown: 1 second. Mastered.

· Mana Orbs (II)- Creates small orbs of Mana that orbit the caster damaging any enemy that touches them. Each orb deals 11 Magic Damage on contact. Cost 15 MP per orb (Max 3). Duration: 1 minute or until enemies touch the orbs. Cast time: 10 seconds. Mastered.

· Mana Skin (II)- Increases Physical and Magical Defence by covering the casters body with Mana. Increases Physical defence by 8 and Magical Defence by 3. Cost 30 MP. Duration: 30 seconds. Spell Mastery 62%

· Mana Blast- Fires a blast of magical energy that deal damage and knocks back enemies. Deals 9 Magical Damage and knocks back enemies in a 10-degree cone. Range 2 metres. Cost 15 MP. Cast time: 1 second. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Enchanting School

Rank 9- Master 2 Spells to increase Rank

Spells

· Minor Flame Enchantment (III). Wreaths a weapon in flames. Adds 6-9 Fire Damage to attacks. Duration: 10 attacks or 1 minute. Cost 20 MP. Cooldown 2 minutes. Spell Mastery 67%

· Minor Physical Defence Enchantment (II). Strengthens a piece of Armour. Increases Physical Defence of armour by 4. Duration: 1 minute 30 seconds. Cost 15 MP. Cooldown 1 minute. Mastered.

· Minor Soul Syphon. Enchants a weapon with a spell that channels the soul of a slain monster into a crystal to create a Soulstone. Final blow must be struck with active enchantment. Duration: 3 attacks or 30 seconds. Cooldown 3 minutes. Cost: 35 MP. Spell Mastery 83%

· Minor Frost Enchantment (II). Wreaths a weapon in frost. Adds 5-7 Ice Damage to attacks. Duration: 7 attacks or 1 minute. Cooldown 2 minutes. Cost 20 MP. Spell Mastery 22%

· Minor Lightning Enchantment. Wreaths a weapon in electricity. Adds 4-5 Lightning Damage to attacks. Duration 5 attacks or 1 minute. Cost 20 MP. Cooldown 2 minutes. Mastered.

· Minor Earth Enchantment. Covers a weapon in sharp rocks. Adds 4-5 Physical Damage to attacks. Duration 5 attacks or 1 minute. Cooldown 2 minutes. Cost 20 MP.

· Minor Vampiric Enchantment. Wreathes a weapon in an aura of darkness that drains an enemy’s life away. Adds 1-3 Darkness Damage to attacks and drains 20% of total damage away to restore the Users HP. Duration 5 attacks or 1 minute. Cost 30 MP. Cooldown 3 minutes. Mastered.

Zerah whistled slightly as she took in Kyle’s School List, this was the first tie she had actually had a look at it since he had started at the Adventurers School and was quite impressed by how far he had progressed in just a few months. He had unlocked most of the basic spells for the Mana School which meant his progress was going to start slowing down a bit, but he had a good variety of both defensive and offensive magic that would allow him to act as a spellcaster when needed as well as increase his effectiveness in close combat.

His mastery of the Enchanting School was increasing quickly as well but she knew that the number of spells that he had to master increased by 1 every 5 ranks until he would have to fully master 3 spells just to reach the next rank which would slow down his progress to a crawl once he unlocked the more powerful spells. Still he had a fairly balanced selection of attack enchantments that would be effective in most situations and the Minor Vampiric Enchantment would also serve to increase the survivability of whoever he used it on. This was obviously Claire’s influence, although the spell used darkness it could be used to keep someone alive for longer making it an extremely useful spell despite its lower damage. As Claire was a healer, she had probably recommended this spell as soon as Kyle was able to select it because as every healer knows it’s hard to keep track of a large group of people so if someone else can help out even a little bit it makes keeping everyone alive much easier.

“Well you should start looking into some different spells for the Enchanting School now,” Zerah advised. “You should have access to some spells that can increase your Stats slightly now.”

“Yeah and then I’ll probably get the next level of the Minor Soul Syphon Spell,” Kyle replied. He was also quite happy with how his collection of spells was progressing, although he still didn’t have the right Stats to use them continuously right now.

His Mana Charged Trait did make his total MP higher than normal for his Intelligence Stat, but it wouldn’t take long for Claire or the other students with magic-based Classes to pull ahead of him when they started Levelling Up, especially if he kept to his plan to increase his Physical Stats first when he Levelled Up. At the moment this was still the best bet for him, after all that was what his Class was supposed to specialise in.

“We’re here,” Hal said suddenly.

The group pulled to a halt as they looked up at the vast edifice that stood before them.

“Well kids are you ready?” Zerah asked looking around at them. “Remember I’m only here to help out in an emergency so you need to be ready for this.”

The students looked at each other the excitement plain to see on all of their faces expect for Amy who was giving off waves of excitement instead. Other than Kyle they were all still Level 1 and were looking forward to Levelling Up for the first time. They nodded in unison before turning back to Zerah and answering.

“Yes.”