Rookburg was a well-known tourist town.
It was known for its large stone walls, its scenic position among the hills, and Count Quintus, the retired adventurer who watched over the land. Apparently, he had reached level forty before retiring.
That, combined with Rookburg's location, made the town a cooking pot of strange people and even stranger antics.
One such antic seemed to be happening outside the city walls.
A crowd had gathered.
At first, it was because the two people in the middle were making such a ruckus. A group of four others stood off to the side, seemingly waiting their turns as the two in the middle clashed with enough ferocity to make it look like a duel to the death.
The traded insults only added to the spectacle.
In the center, a fullblood wolf beastkin snarled as he lunged with paw and fang, pure malice written across his face.
Across from him, a man with short green hair and glasses glared back with a gaze just as sharp as his opponent's growls.
"What part of focus don't you get?" Jax snapped. "I thought you wanted to be a warrior!"
Jax shot forward.
His paw collided with Aiden's chest, and Aiden's feet slid back through the dirt.
His entire body ached from the morning training, but a guttural flame burned too hot in his chest to let pain slow him down.
Will took control of Aiden's hand.
It shot down and grabbed Jax's paw.
"Like you're one to talk, you alcoholic fleabag!"
Aiden roared as he strained his body, twisted, and flung Jax over his shoulder.
Jax slammed into the dirt with a deeply satisfying impact.
Both of them jumped back, making distance as they glared each other down.
Party Leader Jax has landed a strike on you.
You have taken 10 damage.
Fragmented Will (E) has activated and taken control of your left arm.
You have slammed Party Leader Jax to the ground.
Party Leader Jax has taken 10 damage.
The two stared at one another.
Both were breathing heavily, but they hid it behind cold rigidity, staying still so the other could not get a hint of their next attack.
They remained frozen for a moment.
Then Aiden saw Jax's eyes flick to the side.
Will took the chance.
He grabbed control of Aiden's right arm, and Aiden's spear flew forward like a javelin.
Jax jumped into the air to dodge it.
Before Jax even landed, he seemed to see the next part of Aiden's plan.
Aiden rushed forward, his left fist flying toward Jax's stomach.
The punch connected.
But as Jax spun, his leg flicked out and cracked Aiden across the jaw.
Aiden did not even have time to see the System announcement.
He went flying back, tumbled several times, and blacked out.
Kaelen woke him a few moments later with a healing spell.
The others were gathered around him. Jax had gone from snarling brawler to worried friend again as Aiden held his forehead.
The crowd around them had already started to disperse.
"I'm fine," Aiden said. "Really, I'm fine."
Then he looked at Jax, bewildered.
"How the hell did you hit me from that angle?"
Jax shrugged.
"I just kicked my foot out and caught you. It was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing than an intentional thing."
Aiden rolled his eyes.
They all headed back toward the vehicle, both Aiden and Jax wincing occasionally from the bruises covering their bodies.
As they walked, Aiden could not help wondering why they had gotten so worked up during the morning spar.
Will was happy to provide the insider scoop.
"Well, you all just walked away from a situation where you could do nothing. So there is the feeling of powerlessness you wanted to overcome. There is also the fact that you feel stagnant compared to the others, like Liora ranking Wind Blast up to D-rank and Selene upgrading Mutate to D-rank."
It was a rather concise and overarching explanation.
Exactly how do you always come to such detailed and specific conclusions about our mental health? Aiden thought.
Will immediately sounded annoyed.
"I am stuck in your brain twenty-four-seven. If I am not helping you with this stuff, it gets as cluttered as an uncleaned workspace in here!"
Will continued his tirade for another minute as Aiden turned his attention to the others.
The shock of yesterday's events was still weighing on everyone, but the morning training seemed to have helped. Even those without a skill ranking up could feel themselves improving bit by bit, day by day.
Nobody was cured of the lingering fear they had felt yesterday.
But at least it was starting to get better.
As they made their way into town, everyone had different jobs.
Kaelen and Jax had drawn the short end of the stick and were tasked with turning in the quest from Tanis Farm.
Selene and Thalia were tasked with finding an inn.
That left Liora and Aiden to hang out and wait for the others.
"So that belt is what you got from the dungeon?" Liora asked, gesturing toward Aiden's left bicep.
Aiden glanced down.
The Clockwork Coil was wrapped around his arm. While it was meant to be worn as a belt, the mechanism had a pull cord, and pulling it from his waist felt clunky and awkward.
Luckily, the belt adjusted size to fit wherever it was placed.
So Aiden had put it on his bicep for easier activation.
As they walked, Aiden heard the clanking of metal.
He turned.
A figure in full armor was running up to them.
The man was a good head taller than Aiden and covered in plate armor. Red accents of cloth appeared between different parts of the armor, including a sash-like stretch around his waist. On his back rested a simple but well-used spear.
Aiden and Liora stepped back to let the man pass.
Instead, he came to a stop in front of them.
"Excuse me," the armored man said. "Would you be the boy who was dueling that fullblood wolf this morning?"
Aiden glanced at Liora, surprised, before turning back.
"Uh, yeah. That was me. Did I break a city rule, or—"
The man held up a hand.
"Nothing like that. I happened to see the spar this morning and thought I recognized something. I am a spearman as well, as you can see."
Aiden nodded, not entirely sure where to go from there.
The man scratched at the back of his helmeted head, glanced around, then turned back.
"Um, I noticed you all have a vehicle. Where exactly are you headed?"
At that, Liora tensed slightly.
"We're headed to Alderhelm," she said, suspicion sharp in her voice. "Why do you want to know, Mr. Spearman?"
The man looked confused for a moment.
Then realization struck, and he raised both arms in mock surrender.
"Oh my gods, I did not mean it like that. I am meeting an old friend in Fortunz and wanted to know if you were headed in that direction. If so, I was hoping I could catch a ride and avoid walking quite so far. Not for free, of course."
Liora gave him a suspicious scowl.
Aiden stepped between them.
"Well, we might have room for one more," Aiden said. "But it would be a good five days of travel with us. Are you sure you can pay for it?"
The man nodded.
He reached around to a traveling bag tied around the shaft of his spear and pulled out a small blue book.
On the cover were pencil drawings of humans in various spear stances. Across the front were the words:
Accel Spearmanship
Liora and Aiden both glanced at each other.
The man had a training book.
"I'm offering this book to pay for my portion of the travel fees," the armored man said. "And if you are willing to sponsor food along the way, I will also spend some time during the evenings helping you improve your spearmanship."
Aiden was ready to agree with the training book alone.
The advice on how to improve with a spear was something he needed badly.
Still, even though part of him wanted to say yes and close the deal immediately, he glanced over at Liora beside him.
In a way, it almost felt like when he was younger and looked to his mother before asking if he could get a honey drop at the Sugar Dream.
Liora noticed the look and shrugged.
"What? It's your vehicle."
That was all Aiden needed.
He held out his hand and smiled.
"In that case, we would be happy to have you, Sir…?"
"Braedon," the knight said, shaking his hand. "My name is Sir Braedon."