Jack hid the dagger under his clothing and, despite the close call with the inquisitors, entered his home in a good mood. He smiled when he smelled his mom’s cooking. His mother tended to cook more when worried.

  “Is everything alright, Jack? You’ve been gone for hours.” His mom said, noticing the dirt on his knees. “What happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you need a priest or a healer?”

  Jack chuckled. “Everything’s fine. I just took a long walk to clear my head before choosing.” He wiped some dirt from his knees. “I tripped over a tree root, but it wasn’t serious.” Glancing at his younger sister, Polly, he offered a sly smile. “The dirt should wash off easily.”

  His mother gave him a mistrusting look but said nothing as she checked him for injuries.

  His younger sister, Polly, stood with her hands on her hips, “Well?”

  “Well, what?” He already knew what she was asking about.

  “Your class, you idiot.” Polly sighed, “Are you a boring scribe now?”

  “Scribes aren’t boring!” He transitioned into lecture mode. “We get to study ancient texts and unlock the secrets of the past from before the Great Cataclysm. Without great scribes, like grandfather, we’d be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.” He pointed at Polly with the blood-red rose he still carried. “It’s far more exciting than being the Town Fool.”

  Polly scoffed, “All I heard was scribes are boring.”

  Their mom smiled after picking up on the ‘we’ in his non-answer. “You took the scribe class.” She spun him around by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Congratulations, Son. Your dad will be over the moon to have you follow in his and your grandfather’s footsteps.” She clapped her hands and gave him a big hug. “Why do you smell of hay… and why do you have a rose?”

  His mother never missed anything; it was like living with a damn bloodhound. Jack frowned. “I took a rest and sat on a pile of soft hay. An old lady left the rose in the temple, and I sort of, erm… forgot that I was still holding it.” He would have to be more careful in the future. At least I hid the dagger; thank the Gods she didn’t pat me down!

  She gave him another mistrusting look. “You should be careful where you sit. Your third cousin, Frank, fell asleep in a pile of hay and almost lost his foot when a horse sat on him.”

  Jack smiled and held out the blood?red rose to his mom. “A beautiful flower for a beautiful young woman who brightens our days with her warm smile,” he said. One thing he’d discovered in his past life was that women loved compliments, even when they weren’t completely genuine.

  His mother beamed and held the rose to her nose to savour its sweet aroma. The sound of Polly’s loud scoff prompted her to give her a firm look that conveyed the unspoken message, ‘I dare you to say anything to ruin this lovely moment’. Polly wisely remained silent, for once.

  After a delicious meal and quality time with his family, he went to his room to hit the books.

  Jack opened the curtains and looked out onto the city. In the distance, he could see the two dirigibles protecting the city below. He activated one of his new archery skills, [Eagle Eye], and his view zoomed in on one of the bronze dirigibles. “Wow!” He could now see a dozen young sky-knights flying around in formation. He tried to follow their flight path, but not being used to the skill, lost them and found himself looking out at a distant mountain. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

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  Jack deactivated the skill and went back to his planned task. Despite having memorised the contents of thousands of books, his perfect memory for the written word was no replacement for holding and smelling a book. “Where did I put that book?” He looked at the small bookshelf above his bed in dismay. Polly had stuffed his books back onto the shelf without the care they deserved. They were all higgledy-piggledy, with some sticking out willy-nilly. “My poor books. What has she done to you?”

  Using his passive scribe skill [Cataloguing], Jack checked and sorted his books, arranging them as they should be. “Damn, philistine. I’ll have to get her back for this,” he muttered with an evil smile.

  Every practical joke had to be reciprocated; it was sibling law. The first time Jack was sixteen, he found several spider egg sacs, which he hid around his sister’s room. He chuckled as he recalled Polly complaining that her room was filled with little spiders. A matter that their mother and father ignored until she developed a nervous tic. The condition didn’t subside until her father brought in a mage to cleanse her room, and her mother called a priest to exorcise the house.

  He retrieved an old, leather-bound book from his now-organised shelf and ran his fingers over its surface. Savouring the feel and aroma of the old leather, he read the title to himself: “How To Train The Most Commonly Selected Classes, by Viscount Lebrohn.” He smiled before adding, “There you are, old friend.”

  He’d studied this book many times in his past life as he planned his revenge on Greaves. The book listed training advice for over 100 commonly selected classes, including archer. There were whole books dedicated to training the archer class. Jack had read and memorised several of them. But, for now, this general guide would suffice.

  He flicked through the book to the relevant section on archery training, read the introduction and jumped to the training advice.

  Basic Strength Training.

  The following exercises will improve core strength and strengthen back and shoulder muscles.

  Push-ups, sit-ups, planking, and core rotations.

  Add weight where appropriate.

  These exercises improve shoulder muscles, core stability and help strengthen the muscles used for drawing the bow.

  He remembered the improvements these exercises had produced; though, with scarred skin over his body, including his left arm and right hand, it meant the training was painful. “It should be much easier this time,” Jack whispered as he continued reading the section on basic strength training.

  It is advised to run a minimum of five miles every other day for general fitness. Through meticulous research, it was observed that a fit level 10 Novice Archer could run five miles in under thirty minutes. Although endurance per se isn’t a primary factor for the archer class, the archers of the Kingdom of Merciar’s army are expected to be capable of forced marching twenty miles in under five hours.

  “I don’t think so,” Jack scoffed at the idea of running five miles a day or joining the army. “Maybe I could jog a couple of miles every few days. Or perhaps once a week.” He nodded. “Yeah, that should be enough.”

  Closing the book, he returned it to its rightful place. Without a bow, he’d be limited in how much he could practise, so for now, he’d concentrate on fitness and general strength training.

  He looked at the assassin’s dagger he’d placed on the study table amongst the scrolls. Was it a mistake to buy the dagger? Now I’ve got no coin for a bow. Not having a solution to a lack of gold, he did a few stretches before starting on a basic training regimen.

  With his young body not used to exercise, all he could manage was five push-ups, eight sit-ups, a couple of minutes twisting his body to exercise his core muscles and twenty seconds of planking. Planking was sheer hell.

  “By the Gods, this will be harder than I thought. I need a break.” He lay out of breath and aching on his mattress-free bed. Stupid little sister.