He bought a cape to hide his lost arm and leg. It was grey and ended in a hood. He couldn’t help but think that this world liked it hoods. He’d had feared that bandits would think him an easy target and attack them if they saw his disfigurement. He also got Barbara a bow, and several cheap arrows. Most of what he brought was cheap and wouldn’t last long. But as he was almost out of money, this was his only choice. Jackson looked at his companion’s arm, and it was still normal flesh. After returning to the room, with great effort, he’d ripped the armor from her again. It wasn’t as hard as the time he slowly removed it from her while fighting, but it still didn’t want to leave its host. She noticed his gaze and looked worried.

“It’s nothing.”

He wished she could talk, as he’d like to know more about her. He also wanted to know what that armor was. And if the armor was made of blood, then what about the weapons, and chains. How human was the girl standing next to him. He shook away his questions and started to lead them to the forest.

The job was simple, for every rabbit, one copper coin. Every ten coppers were one silver, and ten silvers were a gold. Ten golds were a bar, and ten bars were a diamond. It was a simple money system, however the common people usually only dealt with copper or silver, making most items cheap. That was the reason it taken so long to use up all their money, as Jackson was given ten gold before setting out from the Kingdom. However even that much only went so far. He was down to one gold coin now, which would only last about one more week. The only way to make it last longer, was to down grade their room from a two bed to a one. And the idea of sleeping with her scared Jackson. He could only imagen what it would be like if she had a nightmare. What if she got bit by something or cut herself while asleep. If they had separate beds, then at least he had a small chance. But deep down he knew, he still had to down grade the room soon.

The forest wasn’t too far from the village, and it was a simple matter of stalking some rabbits back to their home. Barbara seemed adapt at finding prey, and her eyes never left them once she started the hunt. She readied a shot, and the first rabbit fell. This went onto become a genocide of the poor rabbits. Jackson felt sorry for the poor creatures, as what can prepare them for an onslaught from a true monster.

…A few days after the summoning…

The class had begun combat training. Jackson, whom had lived with his Uncle and cousins for the past couple of years, already knew how to wield a sword. He was never taught formally but learned through being a punching bag. The court wanted to see what the students could do before training, and Jackson was in the middle of his trial. He was fighting the captain, and primary trainer for the heroes. Unlike the others, Jackson was holding his own against this master of the blade. Unlike the others, it wasn’t one side. Jackson’s biggest disadvantage was that he was using a weighted training sword. The balance didn’t feel right, and it made it hard to fight with.

The captain attacked again, his blade moving faster than before. Jackson chose to jump back and watched as his opponent blade struck the ground where he had stood. Most would have used this as a chance to attack, but Jackson felt this was a trick and the smile of the captain confirmed it.

“Let’s call it there. Clearly you had some training, but your style is lacking. Maybe with some training, you could actually stand against me.”

Jackson didn’t much care for the compliment and left to the side of the arena. Most of the other students whispered to each other, mostly insults.

“Of course, he can use a sword, his cousin just won the championship…”

“Look at how smug he is…”

“A guy with blood on his hands must find this to be trivial…”

He ignored them and took a seat on the ground. Joseph was the last to test his skills. He was an athlete and practiced many sports, but sword play was a different field. The fight was slightly one sides, but the hero’s cheating like stat boosts clearly made up for the lack of skills. He was faster than the captain, stronger too. But the captain could read all of his attacks, giving him the edge. To people used to watching sword fights, it was clear that the captain was holding back. Not that anyone would believe him if he told them. Still, it was fun to watch the captain play with him. Jackson smiled.

“Not bad. Could use some work. You rely too much on your strength, and speed… but without a plan, it all a waste of energy. Sometimes waiting to use your ace is better than going all out.”

To Jackson, the words seemed forced. He guested he couldn’t tell the hero that he spent the last five minutes toying with him. He also wondered if the captain was merely playing with him, like he did the hero. A way of instilling confidence, so the training would go faster. If that the case, then why only him and the hero? He shook it off and decided that was the fact. The captain just wanted to boost their egos a little. They all started to return to their rooms after training.

“Jack, wait up!”

“Huh… What you just call me?”

“Jack, I figure since Jackson was so long it was easier to…”

“Don’t, Jack was my father. I prefer Jackson.”

“Sorry, man… Listen, why don’t we train sometime? We lasted the longest against teach, so we must be equals or something.”

“Or something. Listen, I think he took it easy on the pair of us. Be careful that you don’t let it go to your head, oh great hero!”

“We still outlasted the others! Come on, let’s train sometime!”

“Maybe, nothing else to show you the difference…”

“Difference?”

“Joseph, hurry up!”

“Why is he always with that loser?”

“Guys, they can hear you!”

Jackson laughed as he went his own way. He like the idea of showing the perfect boy what it was like to be put down, to be him for a moment. Jackson stopped walking; it was strange thoughts. Maybe he’d been in denial of his feeling up to this point. Maybe he was just jealous of the hero. He had friends, a harem, good at sports and academics without trying. Why couldn’t he be like that. He continued walking when he heard a voice up ahead.

“That’s the hero? He had no talent for the blade. He thinks that charging and swinging will win the fight! It took everything I had not to one shot the brat.”

“Careful, if the king heard you…”

“I know. But I don’t like babying people just because of status. I had to do the same thing with the prince when we started his training.”

“How were the others?”

“Wouldn’t last five minutes on the field of battle. When I was their age, I could fight a bear one on one.”

“No talent?”

“No talent. But there was one that scared me. He clearly been trained a little but lack all style. Instead, it like he’s learned how to swing a sword from… play fighting. But his eyes… I only seen those eyes in people who… killed before.”

“Really? I thought that they came from a peaceful world?”

“I don’t know, but I’m scared to teach him. This Jackson guy might be more dangerous than those we’re fighting.”

“Maybe he’ll be better at magic and become a mage. You won’t have to worry about him then.”

“I don’t know…”

Jackson shook his head and carried on to his room. So, the Captain didn’t trust him, well whatever the idea of magic was interesting to him. He loved reading about mages and magics in his world. Why not try to be a mage instead.

…Present…

Jackson and Barbara returned to the guild with bags full of rabbits. They turned them in and got five silvers. His life was spared for a few more days. They returned to the request board to see if they could find a toucher job. He felt safe doing so after seeing Barbara in action. If they fought something too difficult, he felt she would save him. That was his last resort, and he didn’t tell her that he wanted her as a safety net.

One quest said rank two on it. It talked about helping clear a dungeon. A research team had discovered it and need to have the floors cleared out before they could study the ruins. It paid a gold per floor cleared, plus all monster rewards went to the adventure along with any treasure they find. For a rank two, it felt too good. And like most things in this category, Jackson took it with suspicion. He signed up for the quest.

“Hey, all we got to do is clear some floors, but I don’t like the feel of this. If it gets hot, we flee.”

Barbara nodded her head. It was the type of quest he couldn’t ignore, but also feared doing. But if they did well. He’ll move up in rank and they could look at rank three jobs. The ranking went from one to ten, and a person could do any quest that was ever below or equal to their own rank. They could also do a job that was one rank higher. Rank tens were rare, and most stayed in the fifth or sixth rank. The only way to move on from there was by endorsement or by destroying a national threat. For example, the Berserker’s head would make a person rank ten instantly.