Young Kevin, so eager and spry,

Got a gofer job—don't ask him why.

He ran to and fro,

But progress was slow,

As he tripped with a grunt and a sigh!

Goldie Honorhide

I was not overly surprised to see Kevin running from wagon to wagon with a clipboard and notes.

"Hello, young lad, what are you up to?" Yoboc asked him when he got to our lead wagon. He was out of breath already, and we hadn't left the yard yet.

Kevin grinned, "I got a job! Assistant Cargo Master!"

"Congratulations," I said. "It is obviously keeping you busy."

He nodded, "It will ease up when we get on the road. For now, I am double-checking cargo manifests and noting any wagon issues for the carpenter."

"What do you know about wagons?" Yoboc asked.

His face fell a bit, "Not much, but I will learn, and there shouldn't be any issues yet."

"How did you convince them to hire you?" I asked.

"Maths for the logistics and details. I have Keensight, you know!" I didn't know that, but it made sense. "Got to keep going," he said. "I am on trial, and if I don't impress the Cargo Master, I will be let go at the next town." He jogged to the next wagon, almost tripping in his rush.

Yoboc said quietly, "I think he will find he is running a lot on the road carrying messages to different drivers."

Goldie said, "It will be good for him."

"Aye," Yoboc said.

Yesterday, we met the four drivers for whom we were responsible. They were very cautious about Makara until she offered to keep their water barrels topped up with fresh, clean water. They were also wary of me, and I had no water to offer them. I didn't mind, as I was uninterested in talking and was here to guard them.

We rolled out on time. We were the last of the official wagons because we had Yoboc with the bow and backup scout. Behind us came the independent merchants.

"Dust and mud are all we will get," grumbled the driver of the wagon I was currently riding. She is probably not wrong.

I was just glad to be leaving the city, town, whatever it was.

The first day was uneventful, as we travelled through farmland. We regularly saw Kevin running up and down the wagons ahead of us. Occasionally, he would deliver a message to the independent merchants behind us. By lunchtime, he was staggering back and forth. I was kind of impressed he lasted that long. We saw him less in the afternoon.

We had a pretty easy first day. I spent most of it riding on one of the wagons, practising with my new toy. I got down occasionally and jogged around with Felix for exercise. For the next few days, we will be moving through cultivated land, and the main threat is opportunistic thieves. My Guard Class was in its element here.

We were eating together that night near the communal cooking fires. I watched as Kevin came over wearily, scoffing down a bowl of stew like he hadn't eaten for a week.

"Hi, guys!" He said with a grin, plonking himself down on the grass next to us. "I earned a point in Physical Strength as well as Physical Agility today! Can you believe it! Two in one day! I have never done that before."

We congratulated him. I suspect he probably hasn't run more than a block in his life.

"So, what does your job involve, Kevin?" I asked.

"Don't bother," Yoboc told me. "He is asleep already."

"Do you think he will last the week?" I asked.

"He is strong mentally," Yoboc said. "I think that will keep him going, as long as his body doesn't break first."

Goldie was our volunteer for the first camp watch, so the rest of us had the evening off. The caravan was active before dawn and usually on the road around dawn or shortly after. We would stop for the day around 4 p.m., and the first camp watch started at 6 p.m. The first watch was fed, and then the rest of us were fed.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Yoboc and some of the other mercenary groups arranged evening sparring to keep our skills sharp. I thought it was good to test against a variety of fighting styles, which would level our skills. I found the Orcs to be the most challenging. They are an aggressive race.

After dinner, we relaxed, checked and maintained our equipment. Then I got out my new toy again. My reading about navigation suggested it would only take a few days to incorporate this into my Map, but I had to scour the town first to buy one. It was a pretty basic compass, but it did the trick.

Normally, people with the Map Skill would take it out on a trip, and then it would incorporate and orient their map. I was a bit different as I had already skipped this stage and went straight to Latitude and Longitude, so I always knew where north was because of the longitude line. The East-West was the latitude line. The compass added degrees and minutes to the angles and made the map auto-orient to the north or to the point of my choosing. This levelled my Navigation Skill.

What my Navigation Skill was lacking was a reliable way to measure distance. This would be mostly fixed after we hit the first couple of towns on this trip because this was a known route, and the distance between the towns was known. I expected this would bump my Navigation Skill to Apprentice. When we got to Jern, I would have an even better measurement as I have the latitudes and longitudes of both Becov and Jern. I just have to remember that the world is not flat, and the distance has to be corrected to meet the Earth's curvature. My Math is not quite there yet, but I expect some time in the Lore Society in Jern will fix that.

Then, of course, Jern is at a different altitude as it is situated up in the Mountains. I have added a height value to the map to add it to the Latitude and Longitude coordinates. I have a lot to work on.

This was all good, but it was not the main reason that I bought the compass. No, the main reason was that the needle on a compass was magnetic, and it pointed North because that is the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field. This is the same magnetic field that Makara senses with her Electroreceptors. It is this magnetic field that my Cosmic Aura affects, and I don't know why.

I hold the compass, and it points North. I extend my Cosmic Aura over it, and it spins randomly, but eventually, it will point to me. This leads me to think my Cosmic Aura has its own Electromagnetic field centred on me. I assume this is currently so weak that Makara can't sense it. That must be why my Cosmic Aura is bouncing or rejecting the Earth's electromagnetic field. I have no idea what this means or what its significance might be.

What I am thinking is that this Astral Affinity works on a planetary scale and works on Planetary effects—gravity, electromagnetic fields, etc. What does this mean for the ore I am carrying and the ore the Forgemakers are digging out of the ground up north? Will there be gravity-altering effects and electromagnetic effects? I think that is likely.

I have been practising altering the gravity that passes through my Aura. I don't have a skill yet. I know I need more Spiritual Strength, but I might also need other attributes.

I am finding it much harder to let the Earth's magnetic field in. Gravity already passes through. Electro-magnet, whatever does not. Gravity is easier for me to understand, so I will focus on that.

I have a barrier for electro thingies at the edge of my aura. Can I create the same for gravity?

The night sky has intermittent clouds floating around. I map the key stars and can plot where some others should be behind the clouds.

I also map other star patterns. The Great Sword was next to the Goblin, which was partially obscured by clouds. The greater moon was up, and Astral Navigation allowed me to overlay the earthly latitude and longitude lines in the sky, giving me a grid on which to work and orient things. I used the stars to calculate where I was and compared that with my actual position from my Map Skill. I was accurate to around a kilometre. If I had instruments like the ship navigators or even Farsight, I could get that more accurate.

My Astral Navigation went up a level. The question is, why do I even need this skill when I have upgraded my Map so much? The answer is I don't know. It is part of my Affinity Skills, so I am going to level it to at least Apprentice and see where it leads. At least it is not likely to kill or maim me like Solar Flare.

The next day, we camped at a small village and, two days later, a small town. This was the first reliable distance I trusted to scale my Map. This levelled the Map again and put it firmly mid-journeyman.

Yoboc said once the Map reached the Journeyman level, it was hard to level without extensive coverage. That is not correct. Adding navigation techniques makes it level fine. I might loan him my compass. This is the problem with getting a Map without going through the Navigation skills.

By the end of the week, Kevin was adjusting to his new physical role, and he hadn't been laid off at the town, so the Cargo Master must have thought he was doing fine. Yoboc started insisting that he join in our evening training. This was tough for him as he had had a harder day than we did, but he did it.

"Your only skill is Small Blades," Yoboc told him, "so we will start there. Follow me with these movements." Then he led him through a series of stabs, blocks and cuts. "No feet wider!" "Faster." "Faster." He drilled them into him.

"You practice that, and you practice getting faster and faster. You will never be strong like Ivan, so we will work on your speed. As you run up and down the caravan, I want you to sprint between every second wagon. Not only will this give you a Dash or Sprint skill, but you will also earn Physical Agility points."

Kevin didn't look that happy, but I am sure he knew the theory. Now, he has to put it into practice, and Yoboc is the motivator. Kevin and Yoboc probably have some sort of Class in mind for him to work towards. They may both be thinking of different classes, but that won't matter. Kevin has a lot of theoretical knowledge, and now is the time to put it into practice. Yoboc will be able to lower the youthful expectations. I know Yoboc will think that with the speed, he will at least be able to run from trouble.

Our Team Leader joined our "Train Kevin" society the next day. Felix joined him for the day and ran with him, nipping his heels to speed him up and giving short barks of encouragement. He treated Kevin like a junior member of his pack. With Felix's Team Leader Skills in play, Kevin's training would speed up.

The whole caravan settled into a routine, broken up with stops in villages and towns.

Kevin's training progressed. Yoboc taught him Unarmed Combat for footwork, balance, and strength, but it would never be a core part of his class. None of us were sword people, but apparently, both Yoboc and Kevin thought this was where he should go.

"Kevin is never going to spend a lot of time in the wilds like us," Yoboc explained. "He is a city lad. A sword is designed to kill people and reward speed."

Yoboc purchased a light, short sword at one of the towns we passed through and hired one of the other guards to train him.

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