Seeds of Discordia

Faint voices muffled around Liam. He slowly noticed the muffled sounds as the noise began to grow a bit louder. As his concentration started to wear off Liam noticed that vision was narrowed as well. A moment ago, there was nothing but him and this book. Now he was sitting in the library, confused on what was going on.

“What?” Liam said as he looked bewildered at Avery and Blair.

“Damn dude. You were really sucked into that book,” Blair commented. “We tried talking to you but didn’t get any response. It was like you were in your own world.”

“What book did you find?” Avery asked as she tried looking at it.

Still confused by what they meant Liam took a moment to gather himself. He had just sat down a moment ago to read this book. Why were they acting like a lot of time had passed.

Calmly, Liam closed the book and showed them the cover. “It’s called Calming the Storm. From what I’m understanding I believe it is about Zen and how it can help you calm your mind when you have so much going on around you. It also talked about how calming your mind can help clear your thoughts when trying to figure out the best paths you want to walk.”

“Zen huh? Wasn’t that a Spirit Sub-stat?” Blair questioned.

“Zen is a Will Sub-stat of Spirit yeah,” Avery corrected. “What Knowledge Theory did you get? You’ll be able to see what the focus of the theory is.”

“Don’t know,” Liam said as he pulled up the message notifications that were waiting for him.

 

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“Congratulations – you have received Knowledge Theory Calming the Storm Level 1.”

“Calming the Storm – This theory helps you understand how to calm any storms brewing inside of you through the power of Zen. It also offers many successful techniques you can use to practice Zen. By helping you calm your inner thoughts your Zen can help you see paths you can take to further your future.”

“Congratulations! Knowledge Theory – Calm the Storm has reached level 5. Progression to next level 79%.”

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Liam looked at Avery and Blair. “Looks like it’s about Zen. I was able to progress it to level five.”

“Level five?!” Avery and Blair exclaimed.

“You must have a knack for it to get it that far already. I only got to level three on my Knowledge Theory Magic Understanding,” Blair stated.

“I got that far on my Knowledge Theory Rapier Finesse,” Avery chimed in. “We had a head start and you still out paced us. Maybe it’s due to you getting so focused when reading it.”

This confused Liam. How did he outpace them in just a few minutes? He shouldn’t have been possible to do so. He was also confused by what Avery stated about being so focused while reading. He used to love to read back before his world fell to shit. Back when he could just get lost in a book.

“Maybe, how about you Arte…” Liam looked around and noticed Artem wasn’t there anymore. “Where’s Artem?”

“Wow you really did lose yourself,” Blair said. “He left to go find a Cooking Crafter... A chef? I don’t know what they call them here. He looked really enthused to be honest.”

Liam looked shocked as he asked, “How long have I been reading?”

“You sat down about an hour ago,” Blair replied with a confused look.

Liam’s eyes widened. “An hour? I’ve been reading for an hour. It felt like I just sat down a few minutes ago,” Liam thought. He then gave a sheepish look and apologized, “My bad. I guess I really lost myself. It’s been so long since I last was able to enjoy a book without worry.”

Avery gave him a warm smile. “It’s all good. At least you found something you have an interest in. We’re about to go check some stalls out. Do you want to join?”

Liam stretched his arms and legs before standing up. “Sure. Let me just put this back.”

“You can check the book out if you want to. While you were stuck in the book the librarian told us we were allowed to check out four books while were here in the city,” Avery informed.

“Really?” Liam asked Avery.

“Yeah, we’re going to do that before heading out. You want to grab a couple more?” Avery questioned.

“No, I’ll start with this and come back another time for more.”

“Alright then let’s head out. I need to stretch my legs before they get too stiff,” Blair stated.

 

                                                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Avery, Blair, and Liam turned down a street fully occupied. Stalls filled with different items lined up on both sides of the street. Shouts of sweet deals escaped people’s lips as they tried grabbing the onlookers’ attention.

Liam glanced over each stall to see the items being sold. Some had different plant like objects from leaves to vines, weeds to flowers, and more. Another stall had lumps of stone-like ores. Other stalls had armor, weapons, leather, bows, arrows, food items and more.

Seeing strange and foreign items was really driving it home to him that he no longer was on Earth. It was both concerning to him and exciting.

“I keep forgetting that I’m on a different planet,” Liam muttered with awe.

“I know how you feel,” Avery agreed. “I keep thinking this is a dream, but it’s not.”

Blair eyed them both but didn’t say anything.

The three of them stopped as a voice caught their attention.

“Are you kidding me? That’s way too much,” a calm yet agitated voice shouted.

“Nonsense, my prices are fair and cheap,” A husky leveled voice answered back.

“Its fine, I’ll pay the price he stated. Let’s not create any problems,” another familiar voice said with a hint of anxiety within it.

“No, he’s right,” A smooth feminine voice argued. “He gave different prices to the people who came before us.”

The three looked around to see if they could pinpoint the familiar voices amongst the crowd. After searching, their eyes laid upon Artem, Mercer, and Ariyana standing in front of a stall filled with bowls, utensils, whisks, and other basic cooking tools.

“What’s going on here?” Avery asked as they walked up to them.

Artem, Mercer, and Ariyana turned to look at them.

“Artem’s getting ripped off is what’s going on. If you’re looking to buy stuff I’d suggest looking elsewhere. This guy’s prices are as flippant as his stock,” Mercer said in a slightly louder voice.

The stall merchant placed his hands out waving them up and down slowly as he said in a quieter voice, “Don’t say that. Are you trying to ruin my business?”

Liam assessed the man’s body language and then looked at Mercer. He noticed Mercer’s facial expression was trying to tell Liam something. After a moment of thinking it through he stated, “If what you’re saying is true then I think its best we look elsewhere.”

Blair eyed Liam and added before Avery and Artem could say anything, “I agree. The last thing we need is to pay above our money’s worth. I think there was a stall a little farther down with better prices.”

“No! I was mistaken with my calculations. I mistook a couple of these items for other ones. I’ll sell what you want for fifty copper and seventy-five iron coins.” The merchant panicked.

“Fifty copper and seventy-five iron coins!?” Mercer said with an affronted look. He then pointed to a big black metal pot, and a couple of kitchen knives as he added, “That would be an adequate price with these items added to the pile.”

The merchant gapped at Mercer. A light shade of red slowly colored his cheeks and forehead as he gritted his teeth saying, “That would be quite adequate indeed. Will that be all?”

Mercer gave the man a playful smile before looking at Artem and he replied, “That should do just fine don’t you agree my friend?”

Artem scratched the back of his head before timidly agreeing. He then paid the man and put the items in his inventory.

“Thank you for your business. Now get out of here!” The man stated with a hint of anger in his tone.

Ariyana placed her hand to her mouth as she gave a little giggle.

Blair, Mercer, and Liam kept their emotions schooled as Avery fought back a laugh.

“Pleasure doing business with you. I wish you the best with your endeavors my fair and cheap stall merchant.” Mercer formally bowed before placing his hands behind his head, turning, and let out a light playful whistle.

The group watched Mercer before looking at each other, shook their heads, and then followed him away from the stall.

“What was that all about?” Avery asked after they were far enough from the stall.

“That guy was selling his stuff at a higher price than what they were worth,” Mercer stated as he put his arms down. “Which by the way, great job on the back up there. I wasn’t sure if you guys were going to catch on to what I was doing. I’m impressed.”

“It was easy to see what was going on after I read both yours and the man’s body language,” Liam said.

“Even so, it’s not an easy feat to catch on to what’s going on so quickly without knowing the plan,” Mercer complimented.

“How do you know that he was trying to rip you off?” Blair questioned.

Mercer stared at the others while contemplating something. After a moment he nodded and said, “I have an ability that tells me the true cost value on items. It’s called True Value.”

Blair’s eyes widened as she stated, “That’s a useful thing to have.”

“Yes and no,” Mercer interjected.

“What do you mean?” Blair and Avery asked.

“My ability can only show me the name and the TCV, True Cost Value, of said item. It can help when I’m shopping, but some items come back as question marks. Also, I noticed there are grades for items, but my ability doesn’t show the grade which I believe hinders the TCV of the item. Without knowing the grade of the items I’m assessing I can’t get an honest value,” Mercer explained.

“I see what you mean,” Liam said as he listened to Mercer.

“It gives accurate TCV on items like the ones we helped Artem with, but items like weapons, armor and the like, it’s hard to give an accurate TCV. I get ballpark estimates,” Mercer added before looking at the others. He gave them a confused look as he asked, “What?”

“How do you know so much about these things. The terminology you’re using isn’t something that is casually known,” Avery pointed out.

“Ah,” Mercer began as he gave a soft smile. “I’m from a business-like family. I learned a lot about sales, gains and loss, etcetera. I think the reason why I have this ability is because of what I learned from growing up. I also have Knowledge Theory in something called The Mercantile System Trading.”

“Still, that’s useful to have especially in a new world. It’ll help you out when trading or selling. I’m sure it’s a sought-after ability,” Avery said.

“Anyways what are you guys up to?” Ariyana asked.

“We just came from the library. We were just going to do some exploring,” Liam stated.

“I want to check out the Training Hall and see what that has to offer,” Blair suddenly said.

Everyone looked at her.

“Sounds good to me. I was wondering what we can learn there myself,” Avery responded. “You guys down?”

“Sure,” the others replied.

 

                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Liam and the group arrived in front of a stone archway with a pair of wooden doors wide open. On both sides of the archway extended a tall stone wall that wrapped around the perimeter.

After they walked in, they noticed a nice wooden structure that resembled a Japanese dojo building. To the right was a canopy where people were practicing archery. A hallway opened to the side of the building that looked like it led to another area behind the Archery.

To the left were what looked like wooden and straw dummies that some people were striking with either their fists or weapons. The area that opened to this side of the build were open packed dirt spaces with a red colored square outline for each space. There were some people sparring unarmed while others practiced with their weapons of choice.

“This looks promising,” Blair commented as she looked around.

“It does. Maybe that’s why it’s so crowded here,” Liam commented as he watched crowds of people trying to get a spot that was already occupied.

“Yeah, it is a bit crowded,” Ariyana agreed. “I don’t think we’ll be able to try any of the benefits they have here today.”

“Let’s see what’s inside,” Avery suggested. “Even if we can’t get a spot in somewhere we can at least get some information on what we can gain from this place.”

“True,” Mercer stated as he brought a hand to his smooth chin. “Information is worth more than just diving in blindly.”

The group walked towards the building in the middle of the complex. They walked past the few people walking in and out of the as they made their way up the stoned pathway and into the building.

They looked over the room as they entered. It was a wide-open area that looked like a reception room with a hallway to the left and right, wooden flooring, red and black walls, and a desk tall enough for the employees to be standing.

Two individuals stood behind the desk wearing a strange uniform. They were talking to a group of people who were thanking them before they walked away.

As the group walked towards one of the halls, Liam and the others approached the desk.

“Hello and welcome to the Training Hall,” One of the individuals started. It was a female with long blond hair and green eyes who appeared to be in her late twenties’ early thirties.

“If you have any questions, we’d be more than happy to answer what we can,” the other individual continued. This individual was a younger male who stood a little shorter than his co-worker. He had copper hair combed back neatly and brown eyes.

“We were wondering what this place has to offer,” Mercer questioned with a curious and professional manner. “We see a lot of people using your facility more than the others, but we’re unsure about what we can gain by using this place.”

Liam noticed the male’s and female’s posture straightened a bit as they started their explanation.

“The Training Hall is a place to practice a range of things,” The female began. “You can practice and gain new weapon skills or practice the weapon skills you have. You can also practice your class or non-class offensive or defensive skills here.”

“You can practice by yourself or with a partner without fear of dealing deadly or harmful damage to one another thanks to the protection magic placed in the practice areas,” the young male added.

Intrigued, Blair asked, “What do you mean non-class skills?”

“It is possible to learn things that is not related to your class. It is harder to gain, but it is possible,” The female answered.

She paused while contemplating something.

She then nodded as she concluded and added, “You would originally learn this later, but since you’re one of the few who has asked about it, gaining non-class skills can help grow your class in a different direction than what it was intended for. By doing so it will help evolve it as well as help you shape how you want your fighting style to be later as you grow. However, you’ll learn more about it after you leave this Tutorial Area.”

“I appreciate your willingness to share that extra bit of information,” Mercer smiled as he placed his hand down and moved it to reveal five silver coins.

The lady smiled back as she placed a hand over the coins and replied, “You are very welcome.”

The young male kept a professional face as he continued, “What this facility holds are training dummies for you to practice your weapon skills as well as personal skills, a long-ranged hall for archery and throwing weapons, dueling pits for you to spar, and a small arena for small teams practice battles.”

“I will have to add that this facility isn’t equipped for magical ability practices,” the lady chimed in. “For that you will have to visit the Mage’s Tower. The facility there is equipped to handle magical practices as well as books and mentors to help study or gain new abilities. Although here in the Tutorial Area you’ll only learn basic magical Fields of Studies.”

“Fields of Studies?” Blair and Avery questioned.

“You’ll have to visit there for more information, but I’ll tell you that Fields of Studies are commonly referred to when talking about the study of Magic. There are many different magical Fields of Studies.”

“Thank you for telling us that,” Avery slightly bowed her head.

“You’re welcome,” the lady smiled back. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, that should be all for now. If we have more questions, we can count on coming to you for answers?” Mercer questioned with a professional yet flirty smile.

“As long as they are questions, I am able to answer then yes you can,” the lady answered.

“Then we will take our leave for now,” Mercer stated as he turned and walked away with the others.

Once when they walked out of the building Blair questioned, “What was that all about?"

“What was what about?” Mercer asked with an innocent smile.

“You flirting with that lady and giving her some coins for information that should be free,” Blair said matter-of-factly.

“Ah, that wasn’t flirting. I was being kind and friendly.” Mercer started. “I was gathering information. As for the coin bit, the information she gave us I felt was deemed worth of giving her a tip. Information like that won’t be given to just anyone. You could tell by the way she hesitated before telling us all of that.”

“Even if she wasn’t supposed to give us that information, I still don’t think it was worth giving her coins for it,” Blair argued.

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. Giving her coin for that information opens us up for opportunities on more information we beginners would normally never get. I saw the chance and grasped it so in case we have more questions we know who is willing to answer.” Mercer gave a wry smile. “I wasn’t lying when I said information was worth more than just blindly diving in.”

“I’d say that information was worth the coin. It’s good to know we aren’t restricted to the class skills we receive,” Liam stated as he looked down thinking about something as he muttered, “Now we need to figure out how we can get new skills and abilities.”

Before anyone could say anything, someone shouted out, “I was here first! Go find another spot!”