An Ivan sat down with a chart,

And plotted his course, oh so smart.

With numbers precise,

He checked it out twice—

But somehow he stayed at the start!

Goldie Honorhide.

The next day, Kevin definitely neglected his duties for the Lore Society. When the stern dwarf came in after lunch, he got an earful.

On the good side, I was now literate. Literacy was now racing up through the Novice Levels. My Mathematics was also keeping pace. I ended up spending the rest of the week in the Lore Society. Some of these concepts needed a lot of work, though

Mathematics is amazing. It is not just counting coins or calculating interest. It seems to underline almost everything we do. It is the basis for our statuses, which use numbers to show improvement. There is a whole Cult of the Status that uses mathematics to work out how their status god does things.

I wasn't particularly interested in that as I was studying trigonometry, which is all about working out angles and distances. I was introduced to the concepts of latitude and longitude, which give a coordinated position on the surface of the Earth. I found that the Kirghiz Kingdom has a zero Longitude running through the capital city and that the zero latitude was the equator. I found out the latitude and longitude of Becov, and my Map levelled and updated with this information.

As I played with…. Sorry, I tested my updated Map. I can now map out routes angled from the north with distances and then set markers. As I found the latitudes and longitudes of different cities, a marker would appear on my Map. I got the Skill Navigator for my trouble.

The few books were less exciting in terms of the stars. Fifty-seven stars were used in navigation, plus the sun and two moons. My astral map already had fifteen of them. The biggest help was the moons' orbits because the moons and the sun were visible the most. Because they were the largest objects, measurements from them were the least accurate, but that would not worry me until I got more accurate instruments to use.

My Astral Map levelled twice as the orbits I had improved from the information I was reading. I spent a lot of nights outside comparing this theory to what I was observing, and my Astral Map updated again and became more accurate.

I also got the skill Astral Navigator, which Kevin had to look up. I didn't tell him that, probably was only because of my affinity. He found a skill called Celestial Navigation, which was a specialisation of normal Navigation.

I decided I was definitely going to get Farsight when I reached the next milestone. It will hugely improve my estimation of angles and distances. I also need to get my eye healed.

Kevin was joining us for dinner most nights now. He has slowed down his questions, but he will never stop. He and Yoboc spent time talking bonds. Makara has started to avoid him, which Goldie thinks is hilarious and tries to arrange for them to be together. Kevin has noticed that when Makara is smiling, and her teeth are showing, it is not a good thing.

I was reading more widely in the lore Society now. Of the three books on Star navigation, only one was in any depth, and I was still working on understanding it. I was reading about Monsters and Abilities.

I was also reading about different environments and the flora and fauna they contain for my Explorer Class. Alpine Lore was different, and it pulled together a lot of what we saw on our trip through the mountains. My general Plant and Animal Lore went through to the Journeyman level. They were the most common Lore people had.

"I got us signed on as guards on the caravan to Jern that leaves mid-next week," Yoboc announced. "It is an 8-week journey as the caravan travels, including longer stops at two larger towns on the way."

Kevin's face fell, "You are leaving so soon?"

Makara nodded gratefully.

"This stop has been longer than we expected, lad," Yoboc said.

"Can I come?" Kevin looked surprised at himself, as if he was not quite sure where that came from.

"We are signed on as Guards, lad, because we have the skills for the job," Yoboc said. "You are not skilled in this. From talking to you over the last while, you only have an apprentice-level Small Blades, and you have not killed anything greater than a fly. No, lad, you can't come."

"But I could be your helper. I could be your Tutor!" he said.

"A tutor in what?" Yoboc asked, "We do not need to learn anything urgently, except maybe Ivan. I think you have been turning him into a Scholar."

"I could do your chores. I could be your camp helper."

"What level is your cooking skill? Weapon Maintenance? Armour Repair?" Kevin's face fell as Yoboc listed the jobs we needed to do on the road. "Go and learn some practical skills, lad, and then you will be ready to travel. You are not ready now."

We were ready and had been for a while. My armour was collected, and we sparred in it to get used to it. All the others had new or upgraded their gear as well. We now had way more than two crates.

I had not spent any time practising my affinity skills, but the knowledge I gained from even such a small Lore Society was well worth it. I was a mid-apprentice in literacy and mathematics.

The route to Jern was well established, and the first five weeks were conducted through reasonably populated areas. The last three weeks would be wilder. Jern itself was right on the edge of the mountain range and in the wilds. Its main export was from the mines. Dwarves and Orcs were the main population. It was reported to be a hard place with hard people.

Its main claim to fame was that it was the origin place of the Black Butcher, which should tell you what type of place it is. It is very rich in spiritual ores, and it will have someone who we can get to investigate the ore we have bought from the Arctic.

It is not a trip nor a place for the likes of Kevin. Yoboc and I looked at each other. Kevin had left disappointed but we knew that look. He was going to do something stupid to join us on the trip. His thirst for knowledge was going to get him killed. He was smart. He had probably read everything in that small Lore Society. He definitely needed real world experience to ground everything, but Jern would kill him.

Kevin was young. Yoboc and I had found out that Scholar was indeed his first Class, and it was almost at Journeyman. He had read what I had not gotten around to and had his classes mapped out and a path to get there, but he was blind to the dangers outside his small world. He probably knows them intellectually. He can spout information on monsters I had never heard of, but he has never come face to face with one.

He was almost the exact opposite of me. I faced them down while too ignorant to know better.

"Should we help him?" I asked Yoboc.

He shook his head. "Let's see what he does. Let's see how he joins the caravan and what the consequences of that are. If he manages that, we can keep an eye out for him and try to keep him alive. He is an adult, if a sheltered one."

The simplest way to join the caravan would be to buy on as a passenger, but I didn't think he had the coin for that. Eight weeks on the road add up to a lot.

I would frequent the Lore Society less often now, as we had prep to do for the Caravan. The Caravan had an overall Caravan Master, and under her, there was a Beast Master to look after the animals, as well as a Cargo Master who organised the wagons and cargo. Then there was the Guard Master, whom we reported to.

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There was an initial meeting with all the Guards and the Caravan Master, a human female. She set out the basic route, stops and expectations. Then, the Guard Master took over and got to specifics. He was a massive orc called Borko. He had a deep, rumbling voice, even for an orc.

Borko first introduced his Scout Captain, a thin human called Alex. "All commands from Alex are to be obeyed as if they came from me." Then, they went through the caravan's different signals and what they were for.

The core group of Guards were regulars who had heard all this before. The rest were Mercenary teams like ourselves. Thirty wagons were starting in this caravan, plus some independent Merchants were tagging along. The independents were responsible for their own guards. On average, there was one guard per wagon. Because we were a team of four, we were assigned four wagons and their drivers as our primary responsibility. One of us would join the night watch at camps, which one was up to us.

Over the next few days, we would meet in the morning and conduct caravan drills in various scenarios. I think this was a way for Borko to assess us and weed out the unsuitable. Yoboc was tagged as a backup scout. Makara was treated with suspicion, but she could hold her own. She was treated much better when it became known she had a Water Affinity. She used it occasionally as a demonstration, and I saw Borko talk to her about using it in certain situations.

I don't know what they thought of me, as I stood out and obviously was not human with claws and teeth. I didn't have an affinity like Makara that they knew. People were wary around me, but while beast-kin were not common here, they were more common than Mer.

We were allocated space for our gear on one of the wagons that was under our care.

I didn't just have new armour, but a new shield. I had a new shaft on my axe, and Goldie got new shafts on the spears. Ranged weapons were useful if we had to fend off attackers while the wagons were moving. Yoboc had his bow and a heap of arrows. Goldie had cheap hand axes to throw, and I had a bundle of javelins. Makara was working on a ranged skill, as they are not as useful underwater.

The camp cooks provided two meals a day. The rest was on us. Yoboc made sure we had plenty of water containers, and Makara could fill them if we had to. Makara and I had no problem snacking on raw meat we caught, but we had plenty of Trail rations and would restock at the various towns we passed through.

Before we headed out, I looked through my status. I would have plenty of time on the road to practice some things. Quiet things.

Ivan Medved Level Physical Mental Spiritual Totals Free Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Str Agi Per Base Attributes 15 12 13 13 8 10 14 9 10 104 Earned Attributes 5 5 7 6 11 4 5 3 6 52 Hunter Scavenger B 11 11 11 14 5 3 44 0 Kill Thief S 2 2 2 3 7 1 Explorer S 2 2 1 2 2 3 10 0 Guard B 6 6 6 6 6 4 2 30 0 Totals 37 34 44 20 21 16 27 21 27 247 1 Constitution 115 57 75

Resistances: Cold +37, Pain +6, Heat +23, Fire +11, Poison +1

Skills:

Novice:

General

First Aid 2, Cooking 4, Trapping 2, Spiritual Manipulation 4, Mask Status 4, Ocean Camouflage 4, Endurance Running 4, Butchering 3, Navigator 2,

Fighting

Crushing Bite 4,

Senses

Lore

Troglobite Lore 3, Sapient Lore 4, Alpine Lore 4,

Astral

Astral Map 4, Astral Navigator 1,

Apprentice:

General

Fishing 7, Tremor 7, Identify 8, Drawing 9, Subterranean Camouflage 5, Breath Control 9, Weapon Repair 5, Skinning 5, Literacy 8,

Fighting

Quick Claws 6, Unarmed Combat 9, Shield 7, Spear 7, Throw Weapons 7, Axe 8, Tough Hide 8, Small Blades 8, Spiritually Tough 6, Seismic Smash 5, Death Strike 5,

Senses

Clearsight 8, Hearing Aid 7

Lore

Arctic Lore 9, Herb Lore 7, Mineral Lore 6, Monster Lore 7, Anatomy 5, Mathematics 7,

Astral

Frigid Void 7, Void Sensing 8, Solar Flare 5,

Journeyman:

General

Common 13, Sprint 10, Arctic Camouflage 10, Transform 10, Carving 10, Stealth 10, Dwarvish 10, Mining 10, Animal Bond 11, Map 11, Tracking 10,

Fighting

Senses

Olfactory 11, Spiritual Sensing 11,

Lore

Animal Lore 10, Plant Lore 10,

Astral

Cosmic Aura 10,

Master:

Senses

Nightsight 15,

Affinity: Astral

Monster Kills: 2

Bond

Felix. Huskie Dog.

Resistances: Cold, Pain, Heat, Fire,

Skills:

Novice:

Frigid Void, Tracking, Sprint,

Apprentice:

Power Running, Nightsight, Stalk.

Journeyman:

Endurance Running, Team Leader, Bond, Olfactory,

Affinity:

Astral

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