The next day saw the same routine as always but I did some research while on shift in the library. Stephens didn't care so long as we got our work done. It turns out the mental stats could be raised through training and study as well. It was just a bit more difficult. Also I got a rundown of what each did specifically. All the stats had a unique role to play that went as follows.

  Strength is the most obvious. It provides more direct physical power. It also has an effect on speed as stronger muscles can propel a person faster. It also adds a very tiny bit to your physical resilience as bigger muscles absorb more force. To avoid being slow and clumsy your Str should remain within four points of your Dex.

  Dexterity is the catch all used to quantify a body's dexterity, agility, finesse, balance, and physical coordination. That is all a lot to describe so to make it simple it is simply described as Dex.

  Constitution is another one that encompasses a few different things. Overall physical health, resilience, stamina, and endurance all fall under Con.

  Wisdom is a bit odd. It's less mental and more spiritual. Apparently it goes up a bit for most people just through aging, which seems appropriate because the elders of a community seem the most wise. It's mostly about thinking deeper about things and knowing yourself. It also governs mental resilience alongside Intelligence equally somehow.

  Intelligence isn't what I thought it would be at all. High Int doesn't necessarily mean a person is smarter although it tends to be higher in people who are truly smart. It's mostly about memory retention, processing information quickly, and logic.

  Charisma has nothing to do with looks. I was shocked. It's just a person's ability to communicate effectively with others and how persuasive they are. It can also get a tad ridiculous. High Cha people can talk people and even intelligent creatures with low Wis into virtually anything. There was a record of a high level Merchant literally selling his breath to an air elemental Djinn. He told the Djinn it was his breath of life and got paid 30 gold for it!

  After my shift in the library I went back to the training grounds and got geared up before approaching Zafas again with no small amount of terror after yesterday's beatings.

  "Reporting for training sir."

  "You're not one of mine but I'm doing my part to toughen you up. Youll be working with Tarstil over there." He pointed off to my right at a wiry, unassuming man who looked like he was nearing 30. "He is our mace trainer. You'll be working within a shield as well as it seemed to suit you yesterday. Get to it." Dismissed I went to greet my new trainer.

  Tarstil was working with 6 others when I approached him. "Hello sir. High Templar Zafas ordered me to report to you." He turned and I saw her was from Indus. He had medium brown skin and thick black hair with a neatly trimmed goatee.

  "You'll be Cidrakas then but go by Cid. I see you're geared up and ready. I'll spar with you while providing instruction. First we'll go through basic motions and tactics when using a mace. You'll hold it like this." He corrected my grip.

  "First is the guard position. You have a shield for a reason and can recieve attacks and retaliate. Hold your shield like this." He angled my body more to the right and corrected my stance. He had me raise the shield up so I could just see an opponent over it. "Fro here you can move the shield as need to block."

  Next he went over how to swing properly, thrusting which was odd to me until he explained that just because I could stability someone with a mace didn't mean that a thrust wouldn't still hurt or knock them off balance, overhead strikes, shield bashing, and parrying. He had me practice each move 50 times before we moved on to a light spar. It was at half speed so he could instruct as we went. When I did something wrong he'd make me repeat it until he was satisfied. He demonstrated controlling distance with the shield and footwork to move into a more advantageous position. It was much more informative than yesterday's "lessons".

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  After about two and a half hours of his instruction he had me pair off with another trainee. "Jessa here has been training with us for 6 months. Her basics are solid and her footwork is excellent. She's the closest we have to your level unfortunately. Do your best and dont hesitate to go full speed and full strength. She's likely stronger and tougher than you."

  Jessa was about 1.6 meters tall with an athletic build. She'd been working longer than I had and harder as well having faced each of the other 5 trainees in rotation. I had a feeling I was about to have a woman feed me my teeth.

  "Hello."

  "Hi. Don't worry, I'll take it easy on ya." She had thick northern drawl. We got into position and began.

  I didn't close immediately, wanting to see what she'd do. She stalked to my left like a jungle cat. Her movement was graceful and even. I circled to prevent her from flanking me until she changed speed and direction suddenly. She juked right then leapt straight at me, using her shield to knock mine up and out before bringing her mace down on my collar bone. There was a loud snap and my right arm went numb forcing me to drop my mace with a yell.

  "Halt!" Tarstil called over a healer to get me fixed up.

  "I didnt mean to break anything I swear. I'm sorry." Jessa looked genuinely sorry.

  "Don't worry about it. I took far worse yesterday. I'm improving my pain tolerance to, heh heh." I laughed a bit to ease her guilt.

  The healer got me fixed up and we went back at it. She was a bit less aggressive now but I still didn't land a hit. I did get much better at the footwork though emulating her. We continued until dinner then I went and bathed. I really enjoyed the baths here. Evening cleaning came and went and I returned to my room to find a surprise.

  After i closed my door and turned to take in the room I heard "Don't yell." In a voice in was glad to hear.

  "Carmen?" She appeared in the middle of the room, a vision of perfection. She had on a charcoal black cloak and was wearing a dark blue dress. "You were invisible? Being a princess certainly has benefits." I smiled and my heart demanded I embrace her.

  She hugged me back enthusiastically. "It does. I have news." She backed away to look me in the eyes. "Father is willing to wait for me to finish my research before reporting to him but my brother asked question that make it clear he's guilty if it wasn't already apparent. I don't think he'll make a move unless evidence is presented against him but he's suspicious."

  "We expected that to a degree. I'm doing all I can to learn to defend myself but I may have to run if things don't go well with the king." We moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

  "He won't do anything directly. He'll send his man Arns after you if he decides to act. Arns is ruthless and terrifying. He had the Paragon skill. It makes him better initial every way than the average man. He's despicable. That skill is meant to raise someone as a hero to people with no hope. He saved only his own family when he got the skill and let the rest of his village be slaughtered. If you see him stay away."

  "Gigantic fellow about 2.2 meters tall? Looks like he could tear a man in half with his bare hands? I've seen him. He was with your brother that night. I plan on staying as far away from that monster as possible." Arns was one of those guys you look at and know he's trouble and is fully capable of taking human lives.

  "I'll try to have the king bring my brother in immediately but if he's refuses you'll have to hide. Do you have someplace to go?"

  "I do. I can go stay with an enchanter friendly of mine. Her and her family will hide me if needs be."

  "Your friend Aurelia? That might work but he'd know to look for you there. I did a little digging into you." She flashed and guilty grin.

  "Haha. That's fine. Hopefully they can get me out of the city if worse comes to worst."

  We spent 10 minutes just talking and holding one another before she had to go. "I would love to stay longer but I can't be gone long. I'll be missed. I won't be able to return until after I've informed the king of my discovery. The only reason I was able to get away tonight is because there is a ball at the palace which I was excused from attending due to the importance of my current research. No matter what happens I'll be back in 2 days after speaking with the king."

  "I miss you already." We shared a short but passionate kiss.

  "And I you". She said after our lips parted. She raised the hood of her cloak and disappeared again. I opened the door and went to use the bathroom to give her an escape.

  I checked my status before sleeping again and saw that the days events gained me more stats, one in a surprising place. My Dex, Con, and Int each went up by a point. Dex made sense with today's training and so did Con. I took a substantial thrashing again after all. Int was a surprise, though maybe it shouldn't be. I'd done a great deal of study a d information processing since I'd been here. Still it was a welcome sight as I drifted off.