TehLulz had been practicing in the training room with Unchosen for a couple of hours. Fire had shown them how they could create projections themselves, it wasn't quite as easy as it was for Fire but they got the hang of it fairly quickly. This time they had used projections that actually fought back, the wounds they inflicted didn't cause any physical harm but they were still painful.

Both had gotten more adept at handling their weapons. TehLulz had discovered that handling his axe was far easier when he just kept it moving all of the time instead of having to accelerate it for every swing. Unchosen had gotten quite good at exploiting gaps in his opponent's guard, for that purpose he had also tried using a rapier but decided that it was too specialized. Unchosen had stayed behind in the training room to practice some more, his sword and mace were significantly less tiring to use than TehLulz' battleaxe.

After taking a bath TehLulz decided that it would be a good idea to go to the library, Fire had instructed them to read about their specific area. Since he hadn't had his enchanting lesson yet he decided that he would read more about weapons and combat.

TehLulz had been in the library before but only briefly. He walked down the corridor leading to the library, as he approached the door it swung open automatically. He needed a moment to adjust to the strong smell of the library. He slowly walked past the tall bookshelves and looked at the labels, he was surprised by the amount of different things there were in there. After some time he had found the section about weapons in one of the shelves on the wall of the second story balcony that went around the entire library. He took a book called "Axes and Axe Fighting", then climbed back down to the ground floor. He knew that there was a reading area in the center of the library so he headed there with the book under his arm.

The reading area consisted of multiple round chairs that looked like spheres with an opening in the front, the insides of the chair were glowing slightly to provide a good light for reading. TehLulz sat down in one such chair and opened his book. Just as he was about to start reading he heard a voice.

"Hey."

He looked up and discovered that there was freeZe sitting in another chair.

He said: "Oh, hey freeZe."

freeZe said: "I see you are also taking Fire's advice?"

"Yeah, Unchosen is still in the training room and Ambigious is still in his smithing lesson with Fire. Have you had your magic lesson already?"

freeZe nodded. "This time Shadow told me to use my magic to create a few sparks in my palm. Those sparks turned out to be a pretty big fireball."

"That's good, right?"

"According to what Shadow said, partially. It shows that I already have good control over my life force but also that I can't restrain the amount of energy I use. We tried a few more things, it turned out that I had little difficulty making a big flame but making it smaller was impossible to me."

"I assume that you need that control to be able to do more complex things, right?"

"Pretty much. Shadow said that this may be because I'm not entirely in tune with my life force right now. I can just activate my magic and tell it what to do but as you saw multiple times, my life force doesn't do careful. With enough training it should get better. Shadow also said that right now we will focus mostly on the Fire element since it is more unstable than Air. Her reasoning is that if I learn to control Fire, Air won't be a problem."

TehLulz asked: "What are you reading there?"

freeZe answered: "A book about the process of becoming a mage. It's a scientific study of sorts, the author observed apprentices of multiple mages. It's quite interesting how the different apprentices develop, especially when they have different magical affinities. My thinking is that if I understand the process and look at others that have been through it I will be able to use some of it for myself."

"Good thought. I'm reading a book about axe fighting for obvious reasons."

freeZe said: "But really, the books in here are amazing… and a bit scary. As Fire said, you absorb the knowledge from the books. While reading it is like I see the four apprentices standing in front of me, training with their master. It is like looking through the author's eyes. It is difficult to tell apart which memories are my own and which ones I got from the book."

TehLulz nodded. "I wonder what my book will be like then."

freeZe said: "Different question. What do you think about this whole situation right now? With us saving the world and everything. I haven't gotten the chance to really talk about it."

"Hmm… I did not expect that question right now. I actually didn't really think about it all that much either, there just has been too much going on. It is really a huge responsibility when you think about it."

freeZe replied: "Yes… to think that a few real life days back we all were just living ordinary lives. We really didn't have much of a choice but I guess that's because we were brain kidnapped by some hackers."

After a short pause TehLulz said: "Thinking about it, nobody ever asked what any of us do in real life. I only really know that Unchosen is a doctor and that only because he mentioned it in the swamp once."

freeZe said: "I am a first semester biology student and Ambigious works at a construction site. We live in a rented apartment together. Our parents don't care much for us and even if they did they wouldn't be able to contribute anything. The only thing that allows me to study is the student allowance I got for excellent marks and the money Ambigious makes."

TehLulz chuckled. "I am in a similar situation, money wise at least, I recently lost my job. I worked as a journalist and field reporter for a small newspaper for a few years but recently the sales went down, it went bankrupt. Now I'm looking for a similar job. A different newspaper seems interested but it's still too soon to say anything."

"Until we get out of here, money won't be a concern. In here at least, Fire seems to have that front covered."

"Yeah, I think nothing that happens out there is a concern until this is finished, one way or another. I guess we should just focus on our task right now."

freeZe said: "You know, I really wonder how it will be travelling through the wilderness here. I recently finished the book about the undead by Andras Thornhook and I'll probably read his other books as well. There is some scary stuff out there, luckily most of it only appears in certain places or is generally very rare."

TehLulz answered: "When our sets of armor and weapons are done we'll be able to defend ourselves. On top of that we have you and your magic. And of course Fire and Shadow will also be there. I'm mostly curious about the people, you know, how the society on the server developed and how it is now. I'm looking forward to Rockhaven."

"Yes, Rockhaven will be quite the experience. From what Shadow told me we will visit several of the interesting places while we are there."

"There really are so many fascinating things here. Now that we aren't slaves anymore or escaping from being slaves, we finally have the opportunity to see all of the things this world has to offer."

"It really is impressive how big this world is, Fire really didn't lie when he said that the possibilities that this software offered were limitless. And it would be a shame if it fell into the wrong hands… I can't go a minute without thinking about our mission, can I?"

TehLulz said: "As said, I think it's better if we don't think about it and just focus. We both have some reading to do."

With those words TehLulz started reading the first pages and immediately was drawn into the book, or was the book drawn into him? At this moment it was irrelevant, all he wanted was to learn how to fight in order to overcome what was ahead.