"Welcome, welcome. Please, come closer." She said slowly, her voice dripping with excitement. "You are here for evaluation. Who will be first." She asked, waving her hand to the seat opposite her with her jewelled skeletal hands.
They hesitated but Mai eventually sat down.
"Your name, child?" The woman asked.
"Mai Valentine." Mai answered.
"Mai. Pretty name, for an even prettier girl. My name is Madam Seer. To be evaluated I will need your hand." She said as she placed her hands on the table for Mai to place hers onto. When she did Madam Seer gentle took a needle and pricked her finger before dropping the blood into a bowl of water before her.
Mai took her hand back, sucking on her finger as the water swirled.
"Ahh, yes. You are powerful my sweet. You are a ranged damage dealer, a controller of beasts and the wild. A druid if you will. A noble and humble class of mystery and magic." Madam Seer said happily.
"A druid? I was hoping for something more feisty…"
Madam seer giggled. "Dont be quick to judge, there is more to a druid than tending trees my dear. You will learn all, in time. Take this to Captain Graywolf downstairs when you are ready." MADAM seer said as she handed her a silver coin with a claw mark on it.
Next was Tristan and he did the same thing by giving her his hand to prick.
"You are a sturdy protector. Often the first into battle to protect your comrades. A brave warrior." Madam seer said approvingly as she passed him a silver coin with a shield on it.
"Neat! Now who's the NPC!" Tristan joked to Duke who mocked him as he sat down.
"I think I know what I am but I'm gonna need one of those coins too."
"Ah, a rogue, gambler, thief.. assassin. You are a creature that stalks the darkness to get what he wants. A cunning strategist and master of traps. People will be untrusting of you but you have no need of their trust." Madam seer said as she passed him a silver coin with a dagger on it.
Tea was next.
"Sweet girl, you are a healer. You will want to be very careful travelling alone as healers are easy prey but invulnerable to any party. With you on their side your comrades will not need to fear too much danger as you will be behind them keeping them alive and free of ailments. For your parties sake they better listen to you and take care of you." Madam Seer said with a cheeky wink as she gave her a silver coin with a plus sign on it.
Joey sat down now and did the same as everyone.
"My boy you are also a protector of sorts. A Dracoknight. A very powerful protector who can control and summon dragons. You have little magical ability and high magical resistance, a valuable ally to have indeed." She said as she gave him a silver coin with the head of a dragon on it.
Atem sat down now and gave her his hand to pick.
"Son you are a very powerful spellcaster. A wielder of the arcane and master of magics and their tricks. You will be very powerful but mind you do not draw too much attention from your protectors, as many will deem you a larger threat." She said as she gave him a silver coin with a star on it.
It was Yugis turn now and he was feeling very good about it. He knew he could use fire, which meant he and Atem must have both been spellcasters. That in itself was exciting.
She took his hand, pricked his finger and waited as the water swirled but when she peered through she looked up to him in surprise and awe.
"My boy…." She said, exasperatedly. She leaned in to whisper to him. "Do you trust your friends?" She asked.
"Of course. With my life." He answered her.
She looked to them all who all looked confused before she nodded. She stood and took something from her bookshelf behind her and passed him his silver coin. It had an egg on it but behind the egg was fire.
"What is this?" He asked.
"You must not make it known what you are. If people are to ask you must lie for your own safety. Tell them you are a spellcaster and they will believe you."
"What am I?" He asked firmly.
"You are an extremely powerful, very rare creature of fire: a Phoenix."
"A Phoenix?!" Duke exclaimed before he clapped his hands to his mouth as Madam Seer glared daggers at him.
"A Phoenix is highly sought after for their power. If any learn there is one nearby, Rare Hunters are sure to be attracted and if they find you they will stop at nothing to capture you. You must be very careful of who you can trust." Madam Seer said to him earnestly.
Yugi stood and looked at his coin… so he wasnt a spell caster but some kind of Phoenix. That was cool but he didnt like being rare and possibly sought after.
"Dont worry Yug, we got ya covered." Joey said as he clapped him on the back.
"Right, as long as we stick together no rare hunters are going to get any of us." Tea said happily.
They headed downstairs and saw Captain Graywolf who took coins one by one and examined them, directing them to where their trainers could be found for their new set of gear and first basic lessons. When he got to Yugi he gave his back and handed him a copper coin with a star on it.
"Yugi, you will give this to the sorcerer trainer. From there they can teach you the basics spell casting but your actual trainer cannot be found in this town. For him you will need to travel out into the world but I wont send you there alone. Your friends will escort you when they are ready. Until then you will join your friend under the guise of a sorcerer. I trust MADAM seer had warned you to he careful?" He asked him. He seemed genuinely concerned now rather than jolly.
"She did." Yugi replied.
"Good. Then go forth! When your training is complete, see me and I will give you directions to your next task!" He said happily again.
"Looks like we'll be training together after all." Atem said happily to him.
"Yup!" Yugi said smiling.
They went their separate ways within the keep, to various rooms or wings to see their own trainers. Yugi followed Atem up a spiral tower until they came to a library of sorts with various robed men reading tomes and scrolls.
They approached someone that wore a particularly fancy robe and greeted them with a warm smile.
"Hello. You must be our newest mages. Welcome to the wizards sanctum. Your coins?" He asked kindly. He was an older man with a long beard and old wooden staff but very kind eyes and demeanor.
Atem and Yugi both gave him their coins and he twirled them around in his palm.
"I see. We have quite the power among us. I will not be able to train you completely young one but I will be able to teach you the basics to survive out there. First, take these, put them on and speak to me." He said as conjured up two backpacks for them.
They took out the robes, shoes and gloves dressed eagerly into them behind a changing screen. The robes were large but once they were on they felt warm and magically adjusted to fit them perfectly. No hemming or needing to be taken in required, it did it itself.
"I could get used to that." Yugi said impressed.
"Tell me about it. Though I would prefer something a little more… fitting." Atem admitted.
"Yeah I miss pants too." Yugi laughed.
"You will get a choice later as you get stronger, for now these robes will grant you magical regeneration and protection." The mage said from the other side of the screen.
They came out and he have them each a plain wooden staff.
"Good. Now, follow me, it's time to learn your first spell." He said he lead them to another room. It was large with 3 training dummies within but nothing else.
"Casting a spell can be difficult at first but you will soon learn that it is as easy as breathing. More often than I care to admit I have woken up casting various spells. With my training they will become as natural to you as walking.
The essence of spell casting relies on clearing your mind and focusing on your will. For this demonstration I want you to choose a dummy and concentrate on throwing a fire ball at it. Do not worry about damaging the dummy. Everything in this room is magic resistant… mostly. Pretend you are throwing a ball… made of fire. Close your eyes, clear your mind and see the ball in your hands." He said.
They chose a dummy, breathed in and out and imagined a fiery ball in their hands. Atem threw his first and hit the dummy, making it spin in place. No scorch Mark's were left but he did it with ease.
"Excellent, you are a natural spell caster my boy. Now, your turn." He said to Yugi.
Yugi followed suit with his own dummy only his fireball exploded on impact, sending parts of the dummy in every which way against wall and floor.
They stood in shock at the result and Yugi bowed in apology quickly.
"I am so sorry!" He said.
"Its… quite alright." The mage said kindly. He waved his hand and all the pieces of the dummy began putting itself back together. "It is safe to say you will not have problems out there, but you must learn to control your magic. If you do not it will be clear to everyone that you are more than you appear. Most mages your level cannot conjure a spell that strong without being anything else. Alas, you will learn these things with practice and from your actual trainer. Now, Atem was it?" He directed himself to Atem.
"I can teach you how to conjure food for your party and how to shield yourself from harm."
"Okay." Atem agreed.
"Conjuring food will use the same principals as conjuring fire. In order to so you must think of something to summon that is edible. For now you are only able to summon basic foods such as bread or fruit, so think of one of those things and place them in this basket." He said as he conjured up a wicker basket and held it before him.
Atem closed his eyes and concentrated. It took a moment and a good deal of frowning but eventually out of the blue dust that sparkled in the basket were 5 red apples, looking shiny and healthy.
"Wow! That's so cool!" Yugi exclaimed. The old man smiled and took one, examining it before magically slicing it open. It looked healthy inside and so he ate a small piece and nodded in approval.
"Very good. With practice you will learn to summon more and use less magic to do so. Now, to summon a shield to protect yourself." He walked away with the basket of apples and then turned to face him.
"Ice will be your friend. Much like a druid or a shaman, the elements are at your command. You will think it out a shield of ice by freezing the air around you. This is different to conjuring as instead of imagining something into reality you are changing what is around you already. The air around you contain water so you will freeze that water to create a barrier." He said as he picked up an apple.
"Okay…" Atem said carefully and concentrated on what he had said. Freezing the air around him, that was difficult. He closed his eyes and felt the air against his skin when suddenly he felt something hit his chest and roll onto the floor. It was an apple, the mage had thrown it at him.
"Concentrate boy. Feel the air around you and freeze it."
"You can do it atem!" Yugi cheered.
He watched him this time and as the next apple was thrown he imagined a shield around him. It lasted for less than a second but it was there… Unfortunately not long enough though as the apple bounced off his head.
"Ow!" He said as he rubbed his forehead.
"Again. Stronger."
Again he threw an apple and again Atem summoned forth the barrier, flinching this time from the apple but it hit the shield instead and rolled along the floor. When he looked he saw it; a freezing shield of ice floating before him. The ice misted off in waves and he could feel its chill through his robes.
"Well done! With practice you will learn to summon a full barrier, even one large enough to protect your party." The mage said as he approached him.
"That's so awesome! I knew you could do it!" Yugi said cheerfully as he came over to 5ouch the shield. Quickly he pulled his fingers away from the cold and Atem lowered the shield.
"That is actually very useful." Atem said happily.
"You have learned the basics. What more I can teach you will have to wait until you have mastered them. You will learn spells on your own as you get stronger but mastering them will take practice and time. Go now to Captain Graywolf and Yugi: do be careful." The mage said.
They left him respectfully and joined their friends as they were finishing their own training. When they were all assembled in their new gear they spoke to Captain Graywolf.
"Good! Here take this. You wont get far without a little coin to help you on your way." He passed them all a little red pouch each that jingled with coins. "Now, Yugi will need to travel to the Mountain Pass of Rebirth. There is a small village at the base of the mountain where you will escort him to but he is the only one who may make the voyage up the mountain. From there he will commence his own training. I will mark the location on the map. When you arrive you are to show the guard at the base of the mountain your silver coin Yugi, only then will you be able to pass. To everyone else, if you choose to escort him there your mission will be complete. Yugis training will take time so I recommend returning here for further training when you have safely seen him to his destination." Captain Graywolf said.
"We cant stay with him as he does this?" Atem asked.
"Only Pheonixs are permitted to make the pilgrimage. His training will take weeks, possibly a month before you see him again. It is worth returning to continue your training too."
"A month?!" Yugi exclaimed.
"Wait, can we be in the game for that long? What about our bodies? How are we supposed to stay here for that long?" Tristan panicked.
"I know what you mean. How do we know how much time passes in the real world while were here." Duke said.
"Maybe we should open a ticket first and ask?" Yugi suggested.
"Wait I remember seeing something in the book earlier." Mai said as she flicked open her book to the frequently asked questions.
"Ah here. While we are in the game our bodies are kept alive and looked after in life support pods back in the game room. Here they receive rest, natural doses of UV, food, water and nutrients so we can spend as much time in this world without worrying. As for the rate of time every hour spent inside the game is equal to approximately 10 minutes in real life."
"So we've only been here for about half an hour?" Yugi asked.
"That's crazy!" Atem said.
"Okay so one month here would only be …. What. Um… wait, 24 hours would be… 240 minutes which is like... umm…" Joey said as he counted on his fingers.
"4 hours. One month here is about 7 days back home." Tea sighed with her hand to her head.
"7 days… Grandpa's gonna be wondering where we went." Yugi said as he looked to Atem.
"Just another adventure for us." Atem said shrugging.
"Alright, maybe we should get back to the matter at hand. Yugi's training. Where do we need to go?" Duke asked.
"To a small village named Blue Flame. It's at the base of the mountain where the Pheonix's sanctuary resides. Blue Flame is well known for its harboration of young Pheonix's and thus the road there is often looked upon by Rare Hunters. The town itself is protected by the Pheonix's so once there you will be safe, but you must be weary on your travels. If you want my advice, do not tell anyone you are heading to the town itself but rather in the direction of. There are few reasons people will travel to that town and more oft than not it is because one of their party is an ill-trained Phoenix." Captain Graywolf said.
"Okay… ah here!" Joey said as he pointed to a mountain on the map with a yellow arrow. "That must be where we're headed."
"Right. It looks quite a distance but we can manage." Atem said with a smile.
"On your way adventurers, would you mind giving this letter to Captain Whitemane. She is in a town along the way called Water Haven. Please refrain from looking at the note, just give it to her and say it's from me. You will be rewarded for this." Captain Graywolf said as he held out an envelope with his seal on it.
Duke took it from him and placed it safely in one of his many pockets on his hip.
"Right. I'll not keep you much longer. The sooner you make it to Blue Flame the better. Do not tarry. Stay near the roads at night and stick together. We need more heroes like you in our lands. You will learn why in time. Be careful, be smart and most importantly have fun!" Captain Graywolf said cheerfully in his bellowing voice and laughter.
They saluted him and left the barracks, back onto the dirt paths of the town.