Chapter 20: Training and Businessses
The next ingame days were the same. i held a food stand at the market place three times a day and followed the Training Hall instructors trainings the rest of my time.
I spent three days learning and sparring with short swords, long swords, claymores and every type of swords found in the Valarian continent. The final test was to defeat three Royal guards that used three different sword styles. It took me two tries to defeat them but it was worth it. The reward was the Parry skill, a lingot of the rare and expensive Mithrill metal and 10 extra points in Vitality, Strength, Endurence and Respect.
I had parried before, durring combat, but now that it was considered a skill, its efficiency would rise and optional effects would be added as i rised the skill.
The next one was theoretical and practical lessons about armors and protections, they were taught by a burly, middle aged man. We spend hours discussing the different parts of armors abd protective gears, from how to wear them, their advantages and inconvinience to how to bypass them durring combat, i then had to apply his teachings.
As i listened to his lectures i would sometimes be rewarded with an information window informing me that my inteligence had risen or that my Journal had been updated with cultural or artisanal knowledge of the armors i was learning off.
On the fourth day of the lectures, my instructor told me that we were done, i had finished his teachings. It surprised me as their had been no tests or trials. The reward was a pair of smooth leather and iron gauntlets, 10 extra points in Speed, Dexterity and Respect and the instructor's friendship and offer of his assistance if i was ever in need of his knowledge.
I took the rest of the day to grind the low level mobs arround the castle. Normally only beginer level players would do this, but i wanted to try my Chakram.
Thanks to the game system i managed to use it yet i did not feel i had mastered it. I spend the whole night throwing the weaponised circle at targets, switching to stronger, faster ones each time i felt i had advanced in the mastery of the Chakram.
When the sun started setting i went back inside the city's walls, i noticed a player, not far away, discretly watching me. I reconised from earlier, when i passed through the gates. I also remembered him from when i was training on a few rabbits...
As i walked through Fridol he followed me, i went to the central place and hid myself from the man's view. after a few seconds i saw him walk past me and look arround, obviously distressed to have lost me.
I am being followed... why and who?
Since my stalker was a player he could easily tell his boss that i had spoted him, so i decided to play dum. I left my hidding place and joined a group of people at a stand, facking to be interested by the wares displayed on it, talking with the merchant loud enougth for my follower to hear me.
As i resumed my wandering, i oppened the Guild's window and started timing a message destined to all of the members, NPCs included.
The message was the first one i had sent as the Guild Master and i wanted it to be simple and dirrect. I thought of how to express myself for long and took my time to type it up.
By the tome it was ready, here was what it said:
"This is my first comunication with all of you so i want to start by thanking you for joinning Centiped.
All of the founding members are aware of what i want Centiped to be and grow into, but for those of you that have joined us after its foundation, i want to tell you about it.
To me, Centiped is not just a Guild, it is a companion.
One that grows in stength and size along with its members and become their suport throughout their gameplay.
Centiped shall be a trade partner, a brother of arm and a power that will shoulder you throughout difficult times.
I wish for its members, wether they are artisans, merchants, wariors or mages, to all receive something from Centiped, be it additional quests, monetary or man support, equipment for beginner players or simply a place to settle and enjoy your friends and comrads company. (map of all Centiped owned Properties, Prospects and Outposts provided on Home-page, HideOuts only available to BlackOps Branch.)
For the guild to grow and spread, i ask of you all to be respectfull of the other players (no mindless PK-ing please) and be mindfull of the game's political, monetary and military figures and factions (do tell, before starting a conflict between households or destroying entire organisations, i will protect and expand Centeped's interests the best i can)
Secondly i wish to inform you that i have switched off the Guild Emnlem Notice to ensure the anonimity of the Guild's members. I believe that those 9 days showing Centiped's colors have made New Roads! well aware of our Guild's existance and that fowarding it too much could atract the wrong kind of attention.
Lastly, i wish to tell you all that the Guild Head-Quarters in Fridol are only temporary, i am currently looking for a larger and more convinient location to hold the Guild's archives, meetings and belongings.
Once more, thank you all for choosing Centiped as your Companion for this great journey that is New Roads!.
All my hope for the futur,
Ben Varrand, Guild Master and Founding Member of Centeped"
The message was to appear on a fictional parchment scroll with my personal Seal and Stamp applied on it.
As i sent it, i felt like a Guild Master for the first time.
I used the next day to check on Centiped status.
Sitting in my bedroom at the inn, i updated my Journal with the Guild's information logs and dowlowded my own into it. I issued a special message to the Artisanal Branch about the updated Armors datas, hoping that this would help them manifacture superior goods.
I checked on the caravans and outposts, making sure that none had been attacked. Then i looked at the ongoing constructions and optimisations of the guild's properties and prospects.
I had predicted that they would consume a large amount of time and money and they did, the bill was high but fair. What worried me was when i saw the proffits from the ongoing bussinesses. They were far lower than i thought.
It took me the afternoon to go through every single one of them, looking for those who did not reach my expectations.
Wierdly, the bussinesses located in small towns and near dungeons or popular hunting grounds were doing fine. It was the shops in lager towns and cities that had meet difficulties.
I did not immediatly understand why, they were equiped with everything they needed to produce quality goods and services yet did not attract as much clients as i wanted.
Felling restless, i descended the stairs and settled myself at the Guild Hall's bar, a large cup of bublely and mossy redberry mead in hand i thought of why my shops were falling short of expectations.
Since they were located in the heart of cities or close to their Gates, they should normally attract attention from players and NPCs alike yet they did not. Even with instalations and products of equal or superior quality and prices, people still choosed to go to other merchants.
I looked at the tavern, it was spacious, comfortable and wellcoming. Its personel was always smilling and polite. The clents were all smilling and laughing joyfully as they drank and ate with their friends and companions.
Many have to be Centiped members.
I knew that when i had posted my last video on the WoF all of the players that had promised to join Centiped had started gathering in Fridol, after the officialisation of the Guild, i often saw a player or NPC with a centipede insect symbol floating above their heads and names but since this was the Guild's HQ, many members must have been visiting it to receive missions or sell their loot.
In a dark corner of the tavern, i spotted the same man from yesterday.
I spent 2 hours in my inn room working on the Guild to test his patience. However sent him chose well...
As time passed i hesitated between getting to know the members better and risk attractîg the spies attention on them or keep working on the shops status in silence. Since i hadn't found a way to increase my shops popullarity, i decided to do the former.
I stood from my stool at the bar and approached an irregular group of three players, hopeping to make the spy believe i was talking to them out of curiosity.
One of them was a tall, dark brown furred Beastman with canine features. His ears were flopping on top of his head, bright eyes and sharp teeth were the first things you would notice about him. As an experimented combattant i noticed the large hamer strapped on his back, and the smaller tools attached on his belt.
He is an artisan! It's rare for a beastman player to choose a working class, they tend to inpersonate warriors...
His two other companions were elves. It had surprised me at first, but then i remembered that the beastmen and elven raced players all started at the same place. To reach Fridol they must have crossed Shambala and Braeen's Borders and traveled through the west of the kingdom.
Shambala was twice as big as Braeen but was covered by a luxurious forest. It was home to the numerous Beastmen tribes whom had divided it into smaller territories and the Elfes that lived in cities magicaly built among the trees. The Elves preserved the forest from war between tribes by serving as mediators durring times of need and conflicts.
Both race shared mutual respect for each other and, in times of war, allied against those who tried to harm their Great Forest, ancestral home to their people, culture and traditions.
"Hey. I am... new in the guild."
I was about to tell them my name when i realised that if they trully were members of Centiped, they might feel stressed to be in front of their Guild Master. On the other hand if they weren't members he would know by their reactions to his introduction.
To his relief the three players expression were both of understanding and friendship.
"Hi there Newbie!"
"Guee, Becket, give him a breack! Its not like you've been a member for much longuer than him!"
"Still, i have seniority!"
"Whatever, man!"
As the Elves were bickering, the Beastmen turned to him.
"Hey, i am IronClaws, obviously a beastman. This here, are Becket whose gaming name is simply unpronunciable, and his brother NuclearBoy."
"Pleasure to meet you"
As the three companions talked i realised that they had a slight English accent. I knew that New Roads! had gone planetary, using a brain patterns recognising program as some sort of instantaneous traduction program but it was he first time i had met a player connecting from outside of America. Granted we both talked english to starte with but it was still a new experience for me.
After i shook their hands, on whitch i spotted the Centiped Brass Ring, i was invited to sit with them.
"So, when did you join?"
It was NuclearBoy who asked the dreadfull question.
"Yesterday. I'm a merchant, an NPCs who served as my escort before told me about Centiped. I was curious so i did some researchs and found out that they were all about producing and trading goods. Seemed like one of the only Guild that could possibly be interested in me joinning... What about you, guys?"
IronClaws was the first to answer.
"Same as you. Although a choosed the beastmen race i am a smith. Back in Shabala no one understood my choise so when i was strong enough i picked up my stuff and left for Braeen. Becket is a tailor, he had less difficulties than me to find clients but since we had become friend he folowed, along with Nucky"
"Yeah, some of the Beastmen tribes can't wear metal armors due to their physical traits so they use fur and leather armors instead. I was getting rich!"
"Until you ran iut of material! which you made ME hunt for in the first place!"
"Come on, thanks to me you became one of the best marksmen in the whole forest! What are you complaining for?!"
"Whatever!"
While they continued to chatter, the dogman turned back to me and continued his story.
"We kept traveling North-East, stoping by each Tribe and elven city we passed to sell what we made while walking or resting. By the time we left the Great Forest we traveling veterants and both Becket and I had developed some combat skills. Braeen's small forests, open hills and small rocky paths were a big change for us but it was nice."
"How did hear of Centiped?"
"We were going towards the Capital and had stoped in a small village to rest and sell our products, but there already was a merchant. He is the one who told us of Centiped. He told us to look for a guy in Fridol if we wanted to join too.
All the way to here we found traces of Centiped, even through it had not been formed yet. It was obvious that whoever was behind it had but an amaising amount of efforts planing it all, so when we arrived here we searched for the merchant's contact. After a bit of talking we realised that this was the perfect Guild for us and decided to join."
"We're founding members!"
As the beastman was finished, NuclearBoy had added the mast comment, trying to impress me.
"That's awsome."
They all smilled and we started sharing our mutual adventures: i told them of how i once been asked by a local commercent to make two feuding families of farmers stop their pity war and start working on their soils once again, how i had to travel back and forth between their farms a good dozen times, settling their anger and hate and escaping thrown rocks and peddles while claimîg to be a neutral party. In turn they told me of their attemp to defeat on the the mobs from Sambala's forest to loot from its protective shell, a resistant material used in the production of numerous shields and protective gears used by the elves and beastmen.
It was a fun time spent in good company, when they decided to leave, the four of us had trully become comrades, IronClaws and Becket even promised to show me their products.
I went back to the Training Hall, followed by the spy.
Since i din't want to loose time shaking him, i just made sure to stare at him long enough to make him retreat, thinking that i had spotted him. I knew there was the possibility that another would come around so i decided to change my closes, switching my dark colored outfit for light brown trousers and a sleevless white tunic with a hood.
After that i talked to some of the instructor. To this point i could receive Spear training, Horse riding lessons, shield handling lessons and hand to hand sparring.
I decided to try the shields as i had never done so before.
It was both to learn something new and comfuse anyone trying to spy on me.
My instructor was the man that had taught me about armors. Just like with them, he started his teachings by telling me of the different type of shields, their forms and how much they could take on. Just like before my journal was updated and my intelligence rose by a few points.
He then showed me how to hold, lift and position the shields one by one, making me repeat the gesture until it had become natural. After that i had to stand up, walk, run and roll while holding a shield without being stuck or tripping. Once i had mastered this he started attacking me with swords, axes and hammers then used arrows and bolts. I had to position and hold the shield againts the impact and rectify my position again.
The practical training took me three days of repetitive, exausting and boring physical manuvers. At the end of it i had gained 3 points in Strength and Toughness, 7 in Endurence and 5 in Dexterity.
The reward for completing the Shield Training was the Block skill, 10 Respect Points and another Mithrill lingot.
The next training was Spears and Spikes.The women who had told me about bows and throwing knives was my instructor.
Once again i had to learn how to hold every type of spikes and the way to move and battle with them. Then it was the Spears. Both weapon's training were mostly physical and once again, the repeated movements and actions made my stats go up a few points once again.
On the third day, i had to battle against other instructor using the Pikes and Spears only, it was much more difficult than i had thought and i failed several times before understanding that they were mid-range weapons that required a constant adjustment of the distance between my opponents and me. Even after that revelation i still failed several times, especialy against the lady instructor.
When i had finally won over my last adversary and completed this training i was relived. I obtained a third lingot and points in Speed, Dexterity and Respect.
After that i was proposed to learn about blunt weapons. For six ingame days i learned how to hold, wield and take care of all the different sorts of hammers and masses available in Braeen.
Then i worked on my Horse Riding skill. My instructor, a young and energetic man, taught me how to saddle, get on and off and unsaddle a horse. I learned the name and function of every piece of horse equipment, how to clean and take care of a mount, what to feed and what not to feed them... With every new piece of information my journal was updated and sometimes my intelligence increased.
The second stage of my training was how to mount, for several hours i rode on the back of a horse, outside the city, while my instructor corrected my possition. Once i managed to keep standing straight on a horse back i trained on how to use a spear, pike, sword, hammer, masse, bow and crossbow from its back. I thought this was gonna be the last stage of my training but then my teacher started showing me how to stand UP on the saddle, bent down on the sides, swotch positions from facing the from to the back and the front again, get on my ride through a jump...
I knew full well that all of these stunts were possible thanks to my stats and the system's assistance, still by the end of another five days i felt like i had become a proffessional circus acrobat!
With the Horse riding lessons i had completed the seven training required to meet with the Training Hall Master yet my determination to finish all the courses available to me was still intact.
I had spent only one week playing in here and my avatar's stats had evolved as if it had leveled more than ten times already. This place was a golden opportunity to stengthen my character while learning and training skills.
Let's not forget about the reward items and materials!
So, instead of going to the Training Hall Master's office, i decided to continue the lessons.
I spent three ingame days working wielding a staff, two more using two blades at the same time, and an extra learning how to fall without getting hurt. This particular lesson gave me the Soft Landing skill that reduced damages from a high fall and any chance of getting confused or stunned.
Hand to hand combat was the next one. Normally this was how players would be presented with the Martial Arts Skill, since i already had it i thought that this lesson would be less benefic to me, but as i started immitatîg my teacher's movements, poses and streaching exercices, i realised that i had not fully used my body's natural capacities.
After several days of what the intructor called 'preparing the body', we started working on my legs.
For a whole week of gaming, i stubornly repeated a series of leg movements that allowed me to enter my opponents personal zone or escape an attack entering mine, it also let me move in on my adversaries with the least possible movement and time in his or her blind spots and how to move parralel or horizontaly from my oponent.
As i was training, all of these suddently formed the passive skill called Footwork that belonged to the Martial Arts Path.
This sudden boon relight my determination and several days of repetitive kicking, jimping and leg swipping, i learned Taekwondo.
This was followed by intensive training of my torso and arms that created the skills Karate, basicly how to use your arms (and legs) to block and attack and Boxing, the art of punching with all your stength instrategic areas without hurting yourself.
The lesson ended with the learning of Judo, the art of throwing, pinning, chockholding and grappling your opponent using his own strength, movements and weight against him.
I had used some of the simpliest movements in combat before but now that they had been registered as one of my skills, their effect would grow as i used them and in time additional options such as critical hits, confution and power strikes would appear. Once again, i had learned skills that would strengthen the very basis of my character.
After my teacher decided i had worked on the basis long enough, he made we battle against several of his students, members of the city's guard, a few nobles and some mercenaries. I even fought against another instructor.
Just like with the swords and pikes trials, i had to try several times, repeating several battles just to get more hand to hand combat experience.
For several days spared with NPCs in the sparring areas, entirelly consentrated on my opponents, i must have had more than fifty adversaries, slowly working my way to the stronger ones. Before i realised it, i had finished the Hand to Hand Training too.
When i went to ask about the next training, i was answered that i had done all the physical trainings available and that what was left was only magical lessons.
That makes sense. Not everyone would have the patience and endurence to obtain the Martial Arts Path so they would not see the point of learning all of the weapon trainings. They would have to do some Magic Training too...
I aproached the first instructor i saw dressed like a magician, it was a women with greying hair and deep red robes holding a scepter.
"Greatings, teacher."
"Ben Varrand! It is always an honneur to see such an eager amprentice between these walls. What may i do for you?"
As i had spend so much time and passed many of their lessons and trials, the instructors and students of the Training Hall had become extremely friendly and respectull of me. The same could be said of the City's guardmen, the warriors, mercenaries and of nobles comming to train and exercice here regularly.
The Mages eager welcome was a daily occurance to me and i did not pay much attention to it.
"Thank you, Teacher. I was actually wondering what kind of magical trainings and lessons i could learn from you."
"Oh, that would be my pleasure! Let me see. I could get one of my senior students to teach you the Basics of Elemental Magic, we also teach White spells and conjurations."
"What is conjuration magic?"
"Conjuration Magic is usefull against Spirits, energy residues and undeads... It is a mix of both defensive and offencive spells and incantations."
"I would love to learn it, please."
With a smile the women dirrected me to one of her adult students who, after a short conversation, started telling me about Conjuring Magic.
Magic had a different learning process, while you had to familiarise yourself with the different weapons, stiles and movements by using them physically several times to form the skill required, magic skills and spells were learned through the passation of knowledge.
There was only two way to learn magic: through a teacher, (like i was doing) or by reading about it (like the Wolf and Wind Ancient Runes).
Both methods took only a few moments but increasing the level of efficiency of magical abilities took more time than for phisical skills, especialy if the magics opposed each other (like the elemental fire and ice magics or the Healing and Cursing spells).
In less than ten minutes i had learned Conjuration and Healing magics, i was about to learn the Elemental Wind Magics when the young women who was teaching me started frowning, as if something bothered her.
"I'm sorry, ladd. I cannot teach you Elemental Wind Magics."
"What! Why?"
"You simply do not have any Disposition towards it. Maybe if you were to try to learn Elemental Earth Magics..."
I thought about it. I had learned so many skills related to physical combat that i was bound to find one i could not learn anymore.
I accepted to learn Elemental Earth Magics from the female magician. To both our surprise it was also unavailable to me.
After trying to learn Fire and Water Elemental Magics without more success i gave one last hope with Cursing Magic but to no avail.
Wondering what was wrong i went back to the female Magical Instructor.
"Hum... tell me Ben, did you learn any kind of special magics?"
"Well, i am a Druid, so i have Druidic Magics."
"A Druid?! No wonder the Elemental Magics did not work with you!"
"What do you mean?"
"From what i know of the lost Druids they had their own form of Elemental Magics represented by different Spirits. The regular Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Elementals do not apply to you."
"Then what does?"
"Hum... I am not sure. I do not wish to wrong you, my best advice would be to consult the castles archives. They are so old, there must still be some traces of the Druids knowledge hidden among those dusty papers..."
"I see. That is indeed a good idea. Thank you for your teachings. I hope to see you again."
"No, Ben, it was my Honnor."
With this i had completed all of the trainings available to me, in other words 13 courses in eight ingame month (2 month inRL time). Throughout this teachings i had trained my body, rasing all my basic stats (exept luck) by at least 20 points throught my repetitive actions, i had been rewarded with a total of 130 Respect points, 60 points in Strength, Endurance and Tougthness, 50 in Speed and Dexterity and 40 in Vitality and Intelligence, enough experience to level up twice (my 10 stat points went to Vitality), i had learned the skills Healing Magic, Conjuring Magic, Parry, Block and Soft Landing and advanced in his Martial Artist Path by learning Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Boxing and Footwork, a Chackram, a pair of gauntlets, a complete set of clothes made especially for Martal Artists, a War Steed, seven Mithrill lingots and two rare magical herbs.
After looking at my avatar's information window i realised that even through i was only level 72, my stats looked like the ones from a level 110 player thanks to all the points i had gained through my trainings, Paths, constant exercises. Not only that but my special stats were also exeptionaly high thanks to how i played the game.
Maybe its also because of my Job, Conquering Trade Emperor cannot funtion properly without power and to gain power you need recognition...
•••••••••••••
This was such a long chapter!
But i wanted to get all the training up to just before the very last on done and introduce the feeling of Ben trully being part of a guild in this chapter.
Next chapter: we will be meeting the Training Hall Master!