With some songbirds singing, Telvin woke up to find Riley was spooning against him. Her sturdy muscled arms were wrapped around him, and he smiled from her pleasant warmth. He twisted his head around and found that she was smiling at him. He kissed her lips in a peck and said "Morning."

"Morning. How are you feeling? Still sore?" She asked.

Taking stock of the condition of his body, Telvin found he felt better then he did yesterday night, but his chest was still pretty sore where that tattooed woman had struck him. Other than that, his muscles still felt stiff from his rage outburst. At least for the moment the rage had gone quiet for the moment. "I'm feeling better, I don't feel like I'm about to blow up at the moment."

"That's good to hear." Riley squeezed him "You still owe me several dates."

Nodding, he laughed and said "I'll take you out on one as soon as I can." Slipping from her grasp he stood and stretched his muscles out. "I'm going to get in some practice shooting before we head out. Are you going to make breakfast?"

The Orc woman stood off the cot and shook her head. "Veronica has decided to take care of breakfast for today."

"Ah man. Not again, Why did you let her do it? I don't know how someone can mess up food that bad. What is she going to try and make this time?"

"For this time, I convinced her to keep it simple by just making oatmeal."

"Still, it sounds like I will just rely on a trail ration for breakfast today." Telvin griped as he slipped his armor on. "Do you happen to sense any game nearby? Since we are going to town it might be good to catch something to sell."

For a second Riley looked in thought and said "There are some small birds to the west of the camp, but not really worth hunting down."

"Alright. Thanks for looking" Telvin nodded and grabbed his bow and exited the tent. Passing through the camp, he saw Veronica currently watching a pot waiting for it to boil. Out of the camp he went past a stream to a suitable place to practice.

After he had warmed up his muscles, he began to practice his routine training with his bow. For the next half-hour he worked hard to the point he found sweat was pouring off his brow and into his eyes. Retrieving his arrows, he went to the stream and dunked his head in it to cool off his head. When he pulled it out, he found Lady Niadas was standing nearby observing him.

After they had teleported to the surface and had started moving, she had borrowed a set of clothing from Telvin as she said Pink was very eye catching in a forest and it was best to change. Wiping off the excess water from his face, he asked "Did you need something Lady Niadas?"

"Please, you can call me Irene. I think since we are close enough for a first name basis." She stepped forward and continued "I know you lost control of yourself during that fight."

"Yeah, that's blatantly apparent. It's not everyday I burst into a red glow and start screaming like a madman."

Irene pulled out a sheet of paper from one of her pockets and offered it to him. "I told Jack that I am trying to turn over a new leaf. Part of that is putting right some of my past actions. I manipulated you in a scheme to kill my brother. For that I apologize. If you hand in this paper to the auction house in the capital, you will be able to get a set of Emotionaca Jewels that can help control your rage."

"You're just handing them to me? Not expecting anything in return? I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you will. I was a bitch and shouldn't have acted that way. I was blind to the way I was becoming, I was too focused on my brother. Looking at it, I have no use for them other than to sell, but you need them. In fact I could say that I do owe you one. You moved to defend Riley, but in the end you also helped everyone by securing us a few seconds."

"You owe Alexia. She was the one who saved us."

"I do. I owe it to her to become a better person, so please take this." 

Taking the paper, he said "Very well. I do need this. Much obliged Irene."

"You are welcome. If you need any more help just let me know. While I don't have connections with your Uncle, I can still put pressure on him if you need me too."

"Let's hope it doesn't come down to that. So has Veronica finished creating her disaster?"

A shudder went through Irene, and she said "I had to flee the smell. It was a mixture of meat and burnt oil. I decided to eat a trail ration instead."

"She was supposed to make oatmeal."

"She did."

Walking back into the camp together, Telvin saw Jack sitting down on a stump staring down at a bowl. As he got closer, he could see inside the bowl was a black lump. Using a spoon, he carved off a piece and placed it in his mouth, and Telvin saw him struggle to keep his face neutral. Veronica was beaming at him and said "My Lord what do you think?"

"It possesses a unique taste for sure. I nevertheless suggest you purchase a cooking skill to reach a new level of cooking."

"No My Lord, I vow to gain the cooking skill on my own without spending skill points"

"I see." Jack said with despair.

As they walked up, Telvin saw Megan come out of her tent. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had a stoic look on her face. She looked at the bowl of burnt oatmeal in disgust and pulled out a ration bar. Jack at this time said "Before we start packing up, I have a few things I would like to announce."

The group gathered around and Jack said "After some consideration of the shortfalls of this mission, I have made some changes. I made the decision to add three new classes."

"As you may or may not know, I have a parasite in my soul. Unsurprisingly the classes that deal with souls are obnoxiously expensive to get, so I was only able to get the cheapest class that can deal with souls. The Necromancer, which I don't particularly care for. I don't have any person in mind for this class at the moment, so please keep an eye out for people suitable for it."

"Another shortcoming I faced in this expedition was my lack of knowledge of Magical Devices. Had I known more, I might have been able to see through Lord Attomas lies. As such I have chosen to get the class Artificer who deals with magical devices." Jack said.

"What is the third class you have chosen, My Lord?" Veronica said.

"I got this idea for the class after I saw Irene fight. I discovered a suitable class called Gunslinger that will take advantage of that way of combat. I felt I required another class that could do long ranged attacks."

"Since you are basing it off the way I fight, are you intending this for me Sir Jack?" Irene asked.

"Yes and No, I admired your way of fighting, but I am still having reservations about accepting you as a User."

"I understand, I hope I am able to fully redeem myself in your eyes one day." Irene said.

"These classes are just the first part of my next goal. These Seven Archmages are still wreaking havoc on this world, despite having their power sealed away. I suspect each of them is working towards getting their power back, so I must make sure they are removed from this world if my Users are to be safe."

Catching Riley's eyes Telvin saw that she nodded in understanding, and Telvin asked Jack "Are you asking us to join you on this crusade of yours?"

"No, at least not at the moment. There are several things that I need to do before I even attempt to face one of them. Right now all I ask is to keep your eyes open; they have servants running around. Now that I know what I'm looking for, it will be easier to observe them with examination. To that end, I have also made some changes to the system to increase your power a bit besides adding new classes."

"The major upgrade I have done is adding a Sub-class system. It will open up at level ten and a new sub-class slot is opened up every twenty levels after that to a max of five sub-classes. However, unlike the regular classes, each subclass has requirements to unlock them. Also once you pick them, you are unable to change them, so choose wisely."

"Let's say I change my class from summoner to fighter, will I get five new sub-classes for that class?" Ritalassa asked.

"No, when you change class, the sub-classes will adapt to the new class you have chosen. For example if you were a ranger and picked a subclass that helped you fire arrows faster, and you switched to a warrior that same sub-class might make you swing a sword faster."

"Is that all you did?" Telvin asked.

"The final thing I did was add a recall function to your maps. After I had examined the teleporters, I was able to understand how to apply it to an ability."

"Are you saying we can teleport?"

"Yes and no. There are several limitations, first there can be no interference or it will not work, on both ends. Second you can only set one location to recall at the moment. In order to set it you must remain in the area you wish to teleport back to for at least twenty-four hours."

"Do you mean staying still?"

"No, you can move about, it's a fifteen foot area you must stay within. In addition you can only use it once every three days. As for the time it takes to teleport it will take anywhere between a minute and five minutes to teleport."

"So it's useless if you are about to die?" Megan scoffed.

Jack frowned and said "I'm sorry, I'm not powerful enough to make it run any faster."

"It's a good ace in the hole." Ritalassa said. "Can any place be set?"

"Any place without interference. It will let you know if it is available to use. If there are no other questions, we can set out to the town nearby. Telvin and Maetrin, when you get to the Town, can you go look for a slave collar for Princess Falean?"

"Sure." Maetrin said.

"I will go with you." Irene said.

After they packed everything away, they undertook the hike to the village. While they were walking, Telvin took a look at his status and made some decisions about what he needs to do to increase his power.

 

 

 

Pulling up the menu for sub-classes, he took a look at what he had available. There was a great variety of them, some of them he could see what requirement he needed to take, others were hidden completely from him. Some of them seemed really straightforward and did little more than giving him a small boost in some capacity.

He moved up next to Riley and said "I'm looking at the sub-classes, I was thinking I should pick something to help cover my weaknesses. What do you think is my most weak point?"

Riley looked thoughtful and said "Your mouth?"

Telvin was startled then saw that she was smiling in jest. "I'll have you know my mouth is my most primary weapon." He winked at her.

She chuckled and nodded "Other than your issues with your temper which you already are aware of, I would say your most significant weakness is that you are all offense. Which is a defense in itself, but if you have a sub-class that could help you with that you should take it. If you don't take one that makes your offense stronger."

"Thanks for the advice."

Going back into the menu, he took a look and soon narrowed it down to two. One called Nature's Enforcer, and the other one was Raging Demon. If he took Raging Demon, he would have more control over his rage, but the downside is it would make him angrier quicker.

If he took Natures Enforcer, he would gain a boost to defense, but he at the same time was required to act as an enforcer for some rules that seemed vague. After some thought he decided to go with Natures Enforcer, when he activated it, he found it had its own level and experience. There was now an itch in the back of his mind, and when he focused on it, a set of codes he must follow appeared.

Glancing through them, he saw nothing that he would have trouble with. In fact the codes were actually pretty lenient. The only thing adamant was he had to face corruption and abominations as if they were the enemy of nature. Moving on, he went through his skills and saw he still had twenty-six skill points.

Since he had chosen Natures Enforcer, he decided to take a look at the skills that had opened up. He decided he would pick two skills, one for offense and one for defense. After looking at his options, he settled on two that he liked which both contained some offense and defense.

 

 

 

 

After selecting his choices, he felt more prepared. It wasn't nearly strong enough for him to face that monster of a woman again, but he was stronger then he was in the past. Done with that he closed the menus and made his was through the forest with the others.

By the mid-afternoon they were able to reach the small town of Sunbrook. When they got into the town, they split up, with Jack and Jadai going off to look for horses and carriages to buy. Riley took the others to a local inn to get some rooms for the evening.

Telvin followed by Maetrin and Irene went looking around for a slave collar. After visiting the town hall and finding they lacked one, the clerk recommended a store to them that might have one. Following his directions, Telvin spotted the store with a sign above it. On the wooden sign was painted a large chest and the word Treasure Emporium. Pushing open the door, Telvin saw a wide selection of goods laid out carefully on shelves.

Going forward past the shelves they arrived at a counter and looked around for the owner. Not observing him, Telvin saw a large chest that had been placed on a chair behind the counter. Irene went up to the counter and hit a bell. A loud snort came from the chest, and a pair of arms and legs emerged from the chest. The lid opened a little and Telvin saw a pair of eyes inside looking at them.

"Oh customers? Sorry for that, I was taking my afternoon nap." An old voice came out of the chest.

"You're a mimickin?" Maetrin asked.

"Yes. Never see one before, boy?"

"I saw one yesterday. They tried to kill me, so I killed it." Telvin said.

"Heavens, that is alarming to hear." The mimickin said "For your information I am a man of peace. I would never injure a flea. My name is Keith, the owner of Treasure Emporium. I have a great deal of trinkets and goodies that any one would pay an arm and a leg for! Er not literally of course."

"We need a Slave collar." Telvin said.

"I do have a few of those in stock, but you need a permit to buy them."

Irene pulled out a symbol and said "I am Lady Niadas of the Hawke family. We have encountered a criminal and need to acquire a slave collar for easy transport."

"Forgive me Lady Niadas. I was unaware of your grace visiting the town." Keith announced and went to the back and soon returned a few minutes later with two pairs of collars. "I currently have two in stock. This one is the base model, and works well with most. This other one is a high end model, crafted out of pure orichalchum. It has several enchantments on it that allow the master several abilities over the slave."

"How much is each?" Irene asked.

"For the base collar, I can offer it to you at one small gold. For the other, I can only let it go for two hundred big gold coins."

Irene said "Look, this town is out of the way, you're not going to get that kind of gold up here. How about this, I offer one hundred and fifty big gold for the both of them."

The eyes in the chest squinted and then he sighed "You are right. You have a deal."

Irene dug into her purse and withdrew the gold and handed it to Keith who handed the collars over. "Much appreciated for your service." Irene said.

They were about to leave when Telvin spotted a glass rose. He was stunned by its intricate nature. "What can you tell me about this?" Telvin asked.

"That? I got that a while back. It's a unique piece, actually made up north by an orc craftsman. You can see his mark near the base of the flower." Telvin looked and saw a symbol of a crescent moon. "Don't know how he made it, but it is one of the prettiest pieces I own. If you want it, I can let it go for twenty small gold coins."

Feeling this would be a good gift for Riley he said "I'll take it."