Eritance - Chapter 41

Each course normally cost a thousand points or more. However, those who were considered gifted could tutor other students for discounted rates. Many would take these discounted courses in lieu of getting the actual course from the instructors. In this way, even the poor students could double their learning while they were here.

I decided that I would teach sword craft to students for 500 points per month. This was very standard among what the other students were doing, and I had the added benefit of being able to continue to gain insights by beating up my students in the practice portions of the lessons.

“Listen up!” I shouted to the group of people whispering around me. “As you can see, I am skilled with a blade. If you want to be like me, I will be offering private classes for 500 points per month. If you’re interested, or know anyone who might be interested, tell them to meet me here tomorrow at dusk” I said. With that I decided to end my practice session and go back to my room.

I wasn’t sure how many people would be interested but as of right now I could only earn around 3000 points in a month. That was with me going out and hunting or gathering materials each day as well. However, with the class, I could free up more of my time by spending four or five hours instructing on one day and earn a lot more. Or at the very least, I could have more free time that I don’t spend doing low end missions.

There was so much to learn here but not much time. I found out that the training lasted 9 months, but that was it. The only way to extend that time would be to become a gold ranked recruit, in which case I would be able to gain an additional 9 months of study.

Becoming gold ranked wasn’t easy, I had to show that I had sufficient potential and was worthy of it. I needed them to see that my relic and skills were a notch above the rest of the silver ranks. There wasn’t just one way to do this.

There were several paths to gold rank, but none of them were easy. I could get the recommendation of a dozen instructors and still not be promoted. I decided that the best way for me to progress would be to start hunting the dangerous monsters on quests. These gave more points, and more importantly, I could get start strengthening my body again.

I went back to my room and called out to Ross. “Ross, show me my stats”. I had been doing a lot of missions lately and some of them involved hunting monsters like goblins, dire wolves, and other low-level creatures. It was time to see how much I grew this past month.

Orin Strength 4 (2) Stamina 3.7 (0.3) Speed 3.7 (0.3) Magic Power 1

I had asked Ross to start showing magic power. I realized that everyone had magic power, but that they didn’t necessarily know how to access it. It most people it lay dormant, and only through training could you learn how to access it. This was why I wanted to take a basic magic theory course.

I didn’t know all the uses of magic, but it would be nice to be able to start fires without kindling or dry my socks when they became soaked without the use of other aids.

With that thought I began the process of imbuing my jerkin with my power. Although my vessel was only a bit over half full, I decided that it would be better to just start from the beginning. This would ultimately mean I could be much stronger.

I slowly circulated the energy within me. It was feeling more and more natural to do so for me. After circulating the energy, I guided it into my hands. My hands began to glow, and I placed them on my jerkin.

The glow became much brighter as I gently pushed the energy into the jerkin. I was surprised that my jerkin was able to hold so much power. Dragons truly possessed frightening bodies, if even their hides could hold so much power.

The process of imbuing only took a half hour at most. I measured myself using Ross again.

Orin- Strength 1 (5) Speed 1 (3) Stamina 1 (3) Magic power 1 (0)

Looking at my stats, I was actually quite pleased. I was now around the same strength as the orc chieftain had been. Although, his strength was slightly higher than mine, I made up for it with slightly higher stamina and speed.

I felt confident that if I were to face another chieftain I would be able to come out on top, especially with my knowledge of sword craft. Not to mention I still had focus punch, one hit from my focus punch would be like being hit by a strong beast, something even stronger than a spine bear.

These gains that I had made are what gave me the confidence to begin fighting alongside the others on the larger scale hunting missions for powerful beasts. I knew that I wouldn’t die right away anymore, as long as the beast wasn’t too powerful.

I was hungry by the time I finished with all of this. I decided to go to the cafeteria and find something to eat. Before I put the jerkin back on I noticed it had changed again. It was now a very deep black, and an indistinct pattern was beginning to form.

I wondered what it would be, but I guess I would find out later when I could put more power into it. With that, I left my room and headed to the cafeteria.

The pickings were not as good as I had hoped today. Today, there was only lentil soup, bread, and a bit of horned rabbit meat. It was a simple meal, but I had hoped that there would be more extravagant food for the silver ranked recruits. I had heard that for the gold ranked recruits, they were able to dine on the most sumptuous of meals each night. Oh, how I envied them.