Anika examined herself in the small mirror in her room after changing into her new armor. The soft, light grey pants were fitted, but not skintight, and felt breathable, despite their thick, sturdy material. She had expected them to feel constricting when she saw how thick they were, but the material was flexible and didn’t bunch awkwardly when she had tried a few clumsy lunges and squats in them. Blue, reinforced leather greaves with knee pads strapped to her lower legs over sturdy dark grey boots.

  On her upper body, the matching grey tunic was a thinner material, but equally soft and breathable. Anika was amazed at how soft and not scratchy the layers touching her skin were, as she had expected them to be far more uncomfortable. In movies, all the fabric used for armor often looked heavier and she had imagined more of a coarse, heavy cloth to form the base protective layer. All the clothing she had worn so far had been surprisingly comfy, and she was glad she didn’t have to worry about being distracted by the feeling of rough or itchy fabric against her skin.

  On top of the grey tunic she wore blue leather armor that covered her chest and torso and included an articulated skirt that was split down the center but offered protection to her hips and upper legs. Heavy white threads joined the armor and dull grey metal plates added reinforcement on the chest and sides, protecting her kidneys and other vital organs. The armor had to be pulled over her head and then tightened on the sides with thick white lacing. The top of the armor was sleeveless but had attached pauldrons which felt looser than she would’ve expected over her shoulders, not preventing the movement she would need to work the bow.

  Her left arm wore the full armor piece that served as an arm guard and wrapped up her arm to sit under the shoulder pad. It was dyed the same blue as the leg armor and the vambrace section of the arm guard had reinforced metal plates on the inside, something she hadn’t noticed earlier when she put it on under Vok’s scrutiny. A reinforced glove finished off the heavily armored left arm. The armor for her other arm was lighter. A simple reinforced vambrace for the forearm and the archery glove. She assumed this was to not interfere with her movement while shooting the bow, and she would have to remember to throw her left arm up to protect herself whenever she inevitably screamed in terror.

  On top of the leather armor, she wore the black belt with the small knife sheathed on her right hip. Eventually she would strap the matching black quiver to the left hip, but as she was not yet cleared to adventure with the bow and hadn’t been allowed to take the arrows with her, she had left it on the chair in the room. The belt had several other small black pouches and attachments she assumed would hold other supplies, like waterskins or potions, if such a thing existed here.

  Before getting back to her room, Anika had asked Sinaya if there was anything to tie her hair up with. Sinaya had shown her to a small closet in the communal bathroom that had a variety of hair supplies. Her hair was now braided with ribbon and tied up to form a crown around her head, keeping it out of her eyes and off her neck. Learning how to braid her hair for the Renaissance Fair had come in useful so that she didn’t have to worry about getting hair caught in armor or arrows, and the braid looked very spiffy with the multiple colors swirling around the white ribbons.

  Lily had been napping quietly on the bed while Anika got dressed and woke up when Anika called to her softly.

  “Well, Lily, what do you think?” Anika gave a little twirl in front of her capybara.

  “Oooo I like it! Do you think I can get armor too? I want to look like you!” Lily jumped down from the bed and circled around Anika a few more times to investigate the outfit.

  “I doubt they have any armor you can wear right now… but maybe they can make you something. It seems like it would be a good idea to protect you since you’ll be in just as much danger as I will be.” Anika wondered who she would ask about that. Vok? She shuddered thinking of his piercing black eyes on her as she tried to explain why she needed capybara armor.

  “I could have armor like a horse wears! I bet Epona is going to have armor, and it’s not fair if she gets some and I don’t.” Lily had a slight pout in her voice.

  “I’m sure they can make you something. I don’t think you need it right away though… it sounded like we are just going to see some low level monsters today. Maybe we can have them make you something before we start doing serious adventuring.”

  “Yay!” Lily hopped excitedly, “I can have pretty armor too!”

  Anika started to reply but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “Looks like it’s time to go, Lily,” Anika said as she moved to open the door.

  Opening the door, Anika expected to find Sinaya waiting for her. Instead, she was surprised to see an exceptionally short Degeta woman with dark tan skin and spikey, dark red hair that looked like it wouldn’t be out of place on a punk rocker. Her green eyes sparkled as she looked up at Anika, and Anika had a feeling this was a woman with boundless extroverted energy…. She and Lily would get along well, Anika thought.

  When Anika didn’t immediately say anything due to the unexpected visitor, Lily pushed past Anika and chirped at the woman.

  “Hi! I’m Lily! Who are you?”

  “I know who you are – I’ve been briefed on you and Anika. I’m Leka, here to take you to the dungeon and train you up! I’ll be your Water magic tutor and am assigned to introduce both you and Philip to the dungeons. Philip is already at the stables with Epona, so follow me!”

  The woman turned without waiting for a response as Anika scrambled to follow, though it wasn’t too hard when the woman’s stride was half of her own.

  “Someone is finally going to tell me about this magic system? I don’t know anything about it. I just know my character sheet says I have spells and abilities but not how to use them.” Anika was both frustrated that it had taken this long for someone to address the whole “magic” thing and excited that she was finally going to learn about how to cast spells.

  “Magic is an intuitive system! You just need to ‘think it’ to make it happen. You haven’t tried it on your own yet?” Leka raised an eyebrow as she glanced up at Anika beside her.

  Anika blushed, embarrassed to say she had been a little afraid to try to figure it out on her own. Which really wasn’t like her – normally she would try to work out everything she could do in a system when playing a new game, but something about it being real made her hesitant. Maybe it was a fear that she was really just going crazy, and trying to use magic would be the thing that proved her madness. Or maybe she was afraid she wouldn’t actually be able to use magic and instead would embarrass herself with her ineptitude. She tried to rationalize the best she could.

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  “There has been… a lot… going on. I’m a little overwhelmed and messing around with strange magic seemed like something that could get me in trouble or hurt someone or something.”

  Leka barked a laugh, “Unlikely at your level. There’s a reason you need that knife there at level 5 – your magic isn’t powerful enough to do much more than tickle at this point."

  Anika sighed. So much for Splash being more effective in this world than in Pokemon.

  As they turned into a hallway Anika hadn’t been in before, she could see that it led to a large chamber just a short distance ahead. This hallway was more well lit than previous ones, and the walls and ceiling both were made of polished stone, which made it look more formal than the hallways where the living quarters were.

  Leka continued talking, “You will get your first good damaging spell at level 10, so you will be more reliant on your weapons prior to that. However, leveling through 10 is relatively quick if you are diligent. At low levels, you gain experience both from practicing your abilities and from killing monsters. As you advance in levels, experience gained from Ability use becomes less relevant, and you stop gaining experience from ability practice at level 15. At that point, your experience is purely through combat.”

  “Abilities meaning… Manipulate Water and Manipulate Light? What kind of practice?” Anika asked, as they emerged from the hallway into a magnificent chamber with high shiny ceilings and elaborately carved stone columns throughout the room. Bright light lit the chamber from large, rectangular skylights in the ceiling, and warm, colorful lights danced on the quartz floor from ornate stained-glass windows with geometric designs that were installed above huge wood and metal doors.

  “Ooooo, pretty!” Anika heard Lily say, as she stopped to gape in the entrance to the chamber, entranced by the colors and shapes that glittered throughout the room.

  Leka noticed she had stopped and turned to look back at her, “This is the main entry hall. It is often used for public ceremonies,” Leka gestured to the side of the room opposite the large, double doors, where a raised platform with soft purple carpets held several altars, tables, and chairs.

  “Now get moving again! We won’t be exiting from the main door – usually we come and go through the side doors, as they are easier to use. The stables are on the opposite side of the complex from the dormitories, which are cut into the stone of the mountain. The stables are on the side that leads into town, and most coming and going passes through the stable entrance.”

  Anika started moving again, Lily beside her, as Leka did not wait long for her to catch up.

  “Magical abilities include Manipulate Water and Light, like you have already. You will gain new abilities for your primary and secondary affinities, including the ability to Create them without a source at level 10. Level 10 is an important level that marks the end of the training period and the start of the apprentice period. Usually we do not send our trainees to the dungeons at level 5…”

  Anika’s inner thoughts won, and she blurted out an interruption, “Then why am I going to a dungeon already? Shouldn’t I train or practice or something first?”

  Leka seemed unphased by Anika’s interruption. ”On our world, Level 5 corresponds with age 14 or 15. By law, we do not start training in dungeons until they are 17. All children must attend school at a temple until age 12, and weapon training is not taught. At 12, children have options to advance their training for different trades, though most start in the trade of their families or continue into a broad exploratory program designed to match children to their optimal path. If their chosen career will put them in a position to enter dungeons, weapon training starts in earnest once they have accepted their path. Once their level 5 abilities are acquired, training focuses on magic manipulation and continued weapon training until they are 17. You are already an adult, and thus our laws do not prevent you from entering a dungeon. You will gain faster experience by splitting your time between independent magic manipulation practice and dungeon experience.”

  That was a lot of information for Anika to process, and she didn’t ask any other questions as they approached the door at the end of a wide hallway that led to the outside. Once Leka opened the door, Anika had her first look at her new world, having not seen outside the stone walls of the dormitory wing. The air was warm, but not as hot as a summer day in Georgia. More like summer in the north, where the temperature held a promise of a cooler evening to come. The ground was covered in a plant Anika didn’t recognize. It didn’t look like grass, though it was a lush, dark green. It had fat, wavy leaves and hints of light purple speckled throughout the field. Anika looked closer and discovered, to her delight, that they were tiny flowers. The path they walked on was a dark cobblestone, edged with short shrubs with long, stringy, light green leaves similar to a spider plant. To the left, Anika could see a larger cobblestone road leading down a hill towards the valley village of white buildings with brown and grey roofs. Pops of color dotted around the town made it look like what she would imagine of a quaint fantasy village in a video game. Beyond the town, Anika could see fields and occasional buildings dotting the valley countryside.

  To the right, Anika saw a large stone and wood building connected to a large pasture. She noted at least 20 stalls on the side of the building nearest her, and it was possible the building was large enough to have center stalls as well. Two extra-large sets of doors were open, allowing the warm breeze that rustled the plants around her to drift through the stables. Turning to look behind her, Anika could see the mountains that the temple was built into rising behind her. The temple fa?ade looked like a large castle extending out from the base of the mountain. As she looked at the blue sky with fluffy white clouds, she saw a single sun that looked larger than what she was used to on Earth.

  Lily immediately jumped into the bushes to frolic through the ground cover between the door they exited from and the stables. She purred and squeaked happily as she rolled in the grass, Anika stifling a giggle at the capybara’s antics. She was like a puppy that hadn’t been outside in days.

  “The sun is so nice and warm!” Lily’s joy was contagious, and Anika smiled in response.

  “It is a really nice day! I didn’t know what kind of weather to expect. Is it always like this?” Anika asked Leka.

  Leka replied as she continued to lead the way to the stables.

  “We have just passed the height of summer, and it will remain this temperature for some time. The valley is protected from the extreme of the season, which is why it was chosen for the temple. It makes an optimal training ground as well due to its proximity to several dungeons.”

  “There are several dungeons nearby?” Anika replied, shock clear on her face.

  “Of course. It would not be a good training location without easy access to all the dungeons that provide us with experience and magical resources. We are not far from the lowest level dungeon on the continent, and there are several of increasing difficulty as we range further from the temple.”

  As they walked the short distance to enter the stables, Anika wondered exactly what the dungeon would be like. She hadn’t expected one to be close and thought it would take some time to get there. Then again, it was late morning now, and if it was too far away, they likely would need more supplies than she had with her… which was nothing.

  “Hey Anika! Hi Lily!” Anika was broken from her thoughts by the cheerful voice of Philip as he came bounding over, a grin on his face and Epona plodding behind him.