After a couple of hours, when the strain of the tutorial had finally settled, Pi’ve felt the exhaustion seep into him. His head had felt heavy for a while, and his feet tingled still, and now that he did not have the tutorial to support him, his stomach rumbled and cried for sustenance, even though he had eaten several times while staying at Gaudol’s place.

  ’You alright there? Sit down. I will fetch some water and something to bite on.’ Gaudol said, and went into the pantry. He came back quickly, and brought back something that looked like salad with fish in it. It was a nice meal. Water felt good too, and he felt better right away, but he felt his body needing some additional rest before going out on another adventure.

  He had gone a while without checking his status, and had forgot much of what it said, so he brought it up to have a look.

  Status

  Name: Pi’ve

  Age: 20

  Race: [Human - lvl 8]

  Class: [Wizard - Initiate Mage]

  Profession: N/A

  —

  Health - (71/97)

  Mana - (40/200)

  Stamina - (36/80)

  —

  Stats

  Strength - 14

  Toughness - 10

  Intelligence - 28

  Wisdom - 20

  Willpower - 12

  Perception - 22

  Endurance - 8

  Free points - 8

  —

  Race skills

  [Inspect (Unique)]

  Class skills

  [Conjure Light (Common)]

  [Corporeal Manipulation (Uncommon)]

  Profession skills

  N/A

  Titles

  [One and only (Unique)]

  He had levelled up a lot during the tutorial, and even now he felt much stronger than he did at the beginning. He had gone up three levels total in the cave alone, but even so he was surprised to see it. He remembered the entity saying that when he reached level 10 that he would be able to rank up his class— the Initiate Mage class. He wondered what the next rank was and what it gave. He had tried to see the criteria while speaking with the entity some time ago, and maybe it was time to check again.

  Last time, he had mentally tried to check the rank-up criteria and it had popped up. He did not exactly know how it knew what he wanted to see, but some things about the Jin was mysterious to him, and it would probably be like that forever. He mentally checked for it again.

  *Class rank-up criteria available:

  - Reach level 10 in your race [Human]: (Status - False)

  - Attain an average stat-point score of 16 or higher: (Status - True)

  - Obtain and use at least two skills in either Race, Class or both collectively: (Status - True)

  Great! He had two criteria checked already. He only needed to reach level 10, and he would be set to rank up his class. A part of him wanted to just stay here and work towards ranking up, but that could take time. That was time he was better off using furthering his path as a wizard elsewhere, in other ways. If he kept at it, the levels would come either way.

  His mana and stamina was still low, but since he had just gotten back from the tutorial, that was expected. He had eaten a lot, and would soon be taking a nap to replenish his pools, hopefully.

  Before his nap, he also had 8 free points to allocate from the last two level-ups, and the difficult decision was again to be made. He looked over the stat sheet for what was needed.

  As he looked over the stats, he thought that it was probably time to put some points on endurance, to raise his stamina. He had not been in serious need of more yet, but the tutorial was only a trial after all, and used as an arena for learning. The real world could prove more taxing. He decided to place 4 points on endurance and raise his stamina by quite the margin. He now had twelve in endurance, and stamina went up from 80 to 120.

  His highest stat was intelligence. Last time he had placed points in strength and toughness simultaneously because they seemed to be related. Wisdom seemed to be related to intelligence, and so, he placed the rest of his 4 free point on wisdom, raising it to 24, and his mana pool rose to 240. The mana pool finally started to feel like being sufficient. He wondered what other wizards had in their pools… Or Gaudol for that matter.

  ’Hello… Hello!’ Pi’ve heard and the status menu disappeared. Gaudol was standing in front of him waving his hands in the face of Pi’ve. ’Stop staring at me like that. You look possessed.’

  ’Forgive me. I was checking my status.’ Pi’ve said. Pi’ve had explained the status to Gaudol previously, but he still did not quite understand how it worked. He thought it peculiar. Gaudol wondered what he had done with his status, and Pi’ve told him that he had raised his endurance and wisdom.

  ’You raised your wisdom? Are you smarter now, or…’

  ’Well, no— or maybe. The entity never said what it does exactly, but I did it because I get more mana from it. Mana correlates directly to the wisdom stat.’ Pi’ve said, and Gaudol nodded at that.

  ’And mana is what is used to do magic.’

  ’Yes, that’s right— Have you ever done so much magic that you have passed away?’

  ’Excuse me?’ Gaudol said and snorted. ’No? Do you mean fainted?’

  ’Yes, yes. I mean, when my mana went to zero, I fainted. Twice that has happened, so it seems like it correlates to needing mana to stay awake, or something.’

  ’Well, I have definitely done so much magic that I have felt it strain my body, like this unpleasant tingling, but no fainting, no. I used a lot of magic to get to that stage.’

  ’Hmm, I understand.’ Pi’ve said. That kind of confirmed that Gaudol either had a large mana pool, or that he uses less mana when doing magic. Or, of course, Pi’ve could be very inefficient with his mana usage.

  At this stage, Pi’ve felt like taking that nap, and so he alerted Gaudol that he would be doing so. When he woke up, it was soon time for Pi’ve to venture to Thergiam. He could not stay here for much longer, as his goal was to become integrated into the wizarding society of Thergiam sooner rather than later. In addition, he had a quest to be completed. He felt rather calm in the presence of Gaudol, but if he really tried to look inside, he could feel that deep within himself that he was scared. Scared for the reception he would get. Scared for what bringing the king would do, both to Thergiam in the future and himself and his path. The quest had said that it could have adverse effects on them both. He decided he would take it one step at a time.

  To Pi’ve’s surprise, there was a simple solution to getting him to the surface of the ocean. Gaudol was an merman alchemist, after all. He had potions that made Pi’ve able to breath under water. In fact, all merfolk used potions whenever they spent extended time underwater, for they had lungs, like people do. Pi’ve had assumed that merfolk could breath under water, but no. They could hold their breath for a long time, but it was limited, like a whale. There was an understandable reason for merpeople to have their cities under hollow domes.

  Pi’ve had the king in tow, now wrapped inside a couple of blankets, but Gaudol had a solution for that too. In fact, merpeople did get visitors from time to time from ordinary people and wizards and the likes, so they needed a way to transport them from the peers around the mainland to their cities under water.

  Pi’ve and the wrapped king was escorted out of Gaudol’s residence to a glass room which bulged out into the water outside, not too far up the paved road, but still quite far away from the main city. Once there, Gaudol told Pi’ve to prepare to enter, and Pi’ve nodded.

  Gaudol placed his hand on the glass wall in front of them which led nowhere. All Pi’ve saw Gaudol do was to take a deep breath as the next thing happened. On the other side, within the water at head level, a bubble started expanding from nothing. He was using water magic again. Pi’ve was stunned. The ease in Gaudol’s face as he manipulated the water to do what he told it was exciting to witness. He knew then that he had chosen the right mentor, and that he would learn a lot from the merman, even if he was no conventional mentor.

  After the bubble had expanded to the size of a small room, Gaudol stopped his casting, repositioned himself, and a layer of what looked like thick glass settled and kept the bubble from bursting. The bubble was then brought closer, and both the glass wall and the layer on the bubble in front of them, opened, making it possible for Pi’ve to enter.

  ’Step inside, please.’ Gaudol said and Pi’ve dragged the king inside the hardened bubble. Pi’ve could not help but to touch the hard layer of the bubble. It did not seem like glass, and was definitely not ice, as it was quite warm. It felt more like hardened resin, but he settled himself with not understanding what it was. The bubble was then pushed away from the wall. As though they were both underwater, he heard Gaudol say ’Bring this man to Thergiam’s main port. Payment will be received after.’

  He talked past Pi’ve, and Pi’ve turned to see another merman who held a rope. The merman was swimming outside the bubble. He nodded, Gaudol waved, and Pi’ve did the same. Then with a lurch, the bubble was dragged through the water, increasing in speed as time went on. The merman, who was the second merman Pi’ve had ever seen, swam and pulled the bubble vigorously through the water to get Pi’ve to Thergiam as fast as possible.

  After a while, seeing nothing through the darkness of the water, except the rope and the merman swimming. He could see light from the surface lighting up his surroundings more and more, and as seaweed and sea grass started to emerge on the ocean floor, they were approaching closer and closer to the surface. As Pi’ve saw vertical pillars in the water, the merman changed direction to go upwards. He realised that the pillars had been the poles of the dock. They surfaced from the water of Thergiam Bay close to some ships, both Pi’ve, in his enclosed bubble, and the merman. Within the second they emerged, people looked over the railings of ships and the peer to announce that a merman had surfaced. They sounded muffled through the walls of the bubble.

  The merman ignored the shouts of the people on land, and took out something that looked like a knife. He traced the knife around the bubble Pi’ve was seated in. Then, with a chisel, he knocked on the glass on top of the bubble. The glass broke and vanished as vapour, suddenly revealing a circular opening on top and wetting Pi’ve’s face. He was then pushed up against a wooden ladder by the dock, and Pi’ve picked up the king over his shoulder, and climbed the ladder up onto the wooden platform, while the merman held the bubble so it would not topple. He turned back and thanked the merman, and waved. The merman nodded, hit the bubble hard as it broke and dispersed, and he dived underwater.

  He was back on the dock he knew so well. It brought wonderful memories, but also memories he wished he never had. If he followed the road that went beside the dock, it would lead to the market. It was the market sailors used to sell their latest catch, and to buy the necessary goods for their next trip. There was a lot more being sold in that market too, but Pi’ve had never interested himself in that. He had walked this road many times with his mother when he was young; with his father, not even four days ago in real time.

  Houses and shops filled the dock, the inns and pubs lined alongside each other. Some were single storied, and some were two or three. They were all made of wood that looked battered by the weather. It was rather quiet today on the dock, but Pi’ve knew that was because the weather had allowed sailors to voyage onto the open ocean and most of them had left.

  It pained him to no end that his father was not here anymore. He wondered what his father would have told him now that he had become a wizard, which was what he had wanted to become all his life. This had been their playground, he had said. Now, he was gone. But he was on his way to become strong, and one day he would avenge his father by killing the monster who had taken him.

  Somewhere along the dock there was a carpenter who made and sold any wooden article you needed. Pi’ve had on his submerged voyage concocted a plan for how he was to reveal the king, but for that, he needed to make a visit to this carpenter.

  Pi’ve brought the king along the dock, hoisted over his shoulders as he had placed the two shields in his inventory again. It would not be right to drag a king on such a makeshift sleigh, in his own city, no less. People gave him a sidelong glance from time to time, as the shape of what he was carrying was not hard to guess. Along the many houses that connected and separated the dock from the inner city, he finally saw the sign of the carpenter. It said Coron’s Carpentry. Coron had made many of the items which Pi’ve and the crew had taken with them on their ship. Like the barrels he had cleaned so many times. Pi’ve did not know the man personally, but his father did. Through the windows he could see many small figurines and ornate decorative pieces that showcased the carpenter’s skills.

  Pi’ve tried to push open the door, but to no avail. This was apparently an up to date, state of the art, pull-door. Honest mistake. It even said ’’Pull’’ right by the knob. ’Damn’.

  Coron stood behind the counter, writing in a book. Before looking up, the man said ’It says pull, so why push—’, but stopped as he did a double take, and squinted over his glasses as he looked at the man who entered his shop.

  ’Are you back already?’ Coron said questioningly. Pi’ve saw that the man knew something was wrong. ’Where is your father, Pi’ve? Why do you look like this?’

  Pi’ve shook his head, sudden anger and sadness appeared as tears welled up in his eyes. A lump in his throat seemed to constrict his breathing. He had to look up at the ceiling to keep the tears from running down his cheeks. He had to tell this man that his friend and long time customer was dead.

  ’Okay, okay, Pi’ve. I understand— there is no need… I understand.’ He said grabbing Pi’ve’s upper arm. Surely he thought that Pi’ve had entered another of his shocked states, as he had when his mother had died years ago. He dressed up as a wizard back then too. ’How did it happen?’

  ’—Sea creature.’ Pi’ve croaked. ’A huge, crab boarded our ship and killed everyone. Everyone…’ Pi’ve said, and his mind flashed vividly. He saw Nobby, Billo… Cracks like a whip made him flinch… He heard his father’s last cry. Black eyes of a monster…

  ’Relax, Pi’ve. Relax. What do you need?’ Coron said, stroking Pi’ve’s back. He was brought back to reality, to his quest. He had to finish what he started. There was no time for this. Well, there was time, just not right now.

  Pi’ve shook his head and drew a deep breath. ’I need a casket. A coffin. And I need it to have a secondary lid beneath the wooden one, made of glass. Tempered glass, preferably. For viewing.’ Pi’ve said, wiping a tear.

  ’What do you need that for—,’ Coron said, and he looked down on the floor, seeing the man-shaped bundle of blankets Pi’ve had placed there. ’No. That can’t be—,’

  ’No. That is not my father.’ Pi’ve said. ’It is…’ There was a moment where Pi’ve almost revealed to Coron who the man he was dragging with him was, but this was not the time nor place for it.

  ’Well, as long as it’s not your father— Coffin, with a tempered glass window on the top? You want a wooden lid on top of that?’ Coron said, and Pi’ve told him that yes, that is what he was looking for. Coron told him to wait in the shop, or walk about while he went into his workshop. He undoubtedly had coffins back there already, and needed only to place the glass inside.

  As Coron was about to leave for the workshop, another customer came in through the door, which swung outwards. He asked about a chair he had ordered, and Coron apologised and said it was to be finished by the weeks end. Then, Pi’ve and the customer walked to the door to leave. Pi’ve tried to push the door open. Not even if he had doubled his stat-points in his intelligence and wisdom would he expect this.

  ’It is a pull-door, lad.’ The customer said, shaking his head.

  Pi’ve laughed nervously. ’Right. It says right there…’ Miraculously the door swung inwards. He did not understand. ‘Has it always been pull?’

  The customer shrugged and walked off in the other direction to where Pi’ve was heading, and he saw the man no more.

  Pi’ve had not gone far. He fetched a meal nearby and something to drink. After that he lounged in Coron’s shop, looking at all the wooden ornaments he had on display. After three hours, Coron came out again.

  ’Alright. I have made what you asked for. I assume you need some way of transporting it, so I placed the coffin on small carriage with wheels, so you can drag it along.’ Coron said. ’You just go outside, and I will bring it through the alleyway out front.’

  Pi’ve went outside with the king in tow. After a couple of minutes, wheels on stone could be heard through the alleyway behind the shop. He heard a door shut, and then Coron appeared with the coffin placed on a small wagon. The casket looked magnificent. Dark wood with fine details. It was definitely good enough for what he had imagined. The coffin was placed in front of Pi’ve, and Coron opened the lid revealing a glass casing that would keep prying hands from touching the king.

  Coron opened the side of the coffin, where Pi’ve could comfortably slide the king inside, and so he did. He took off the blankets covering the king, and thinking about it, he also placed the king’s letter on the king’s chest, so it could be read by those looking inside. Then he closed the lid of the coffin.

  ’So, who is this man?’ Coron asked.

  ’If you come to the market square in about an hour, you will find out.’ Pi’ve said.

  Coron looked at Pi’ve like he was talking nonsense, but with leniency as he had just lost his father, because Pi’ve was obviously out of it. In Coron’s mind, Pi’ve had probably brought one of the crew with him for a proper burial.

  ’Alright. I will be there, I think. There’s little traffic now that most sailors are out on the sea. I can close up shop and come there. Oh, and you don’t need to pay me for this right now. We can arrange something later.’

  ’Good. Good. I don’t know how this will be received, but I have decided to go through with it, and so it must be done.’

  ’You make it sound so serious. Whatever you do, it will be received the way it should. You’re selling it good, I must say.’ Coron said and chuckled a little. ’Go now, I will be there.’

  Pi’ve took the reins of the little wagon with the coffin on, and began dragging it. It was laborious, as the coffin was quite massive. He needed a few stops here and there to rest on his way. Wait. Was the door really magical? What a stupid door…

  Pi’ve dragged his carriage through the dock by the boats where he had played so much as a small boy. How different it looked now. His perspective had changed so much after all that had happened in the last few days. It was like he had left his childhood behind, and he saw the place as it really was. After the ship had sunk and his father had died, the world seemed so grim. So dark. And that reflected how he saw Thergiam now.

  Outside a bar further down the pier there was a man sitting with a pint in his hand, and several empty ones on the round table. He looked at Pi’ve quizzically.

  ’Hey, there! Aren’t you that Pi’ve lad? Almost didn’t recognise you.’ Oh, it is Krasian. A former crew mate who was kicked out of the ship for stealing his father’s compass which his mother had given as a present long ago.

  ’Hello.’ Pi’ve said flatly.

  Krasian chuckled. ’How are the boys? Oh, how d’times change, ay?’ When Pi’ve did not answer, he laughed awkwardly. ’What, you’ve b’come a wizard, or something?’ He said looking at Pi’ve’s clothes and staff.

  ’Yes, Krasian. And I am in a bit of a hurry, so please leave me alone.’ Pi’ve saw that the man was clearly intoxicated.

  ’No. You don’t seem that busy— a hurry, I mean. What’u got in the back there? A dead man, huh. Let me check who it—’

  ’Get your drunk, slimy hand away from the carriage, or I will spellbind you!’ Pi’ve said losing his temper. It was a lie, as he could not spellbind anything, but seeing the man who had stolen his father’s compass made him boil inside, and now his dirty fingers wanted more. Pi’ve had his staff alight and held it close to the face of Krasian.

  Krasian’s face on the brink of laughter suddenly twisted and cringed in the bright light from the staff. Krasian did not seem to think it was funny anymore. ’Okay, brother. I’ll step away.’ Krasian said, scared by the staff in his face. ’I thought you jested.’ Then he backed off, his hands raised.

  ’I would never jest in the presence of you, for you would not deserve the laughter it would bring. Now leave me be.’ Then Pi’ve began dragging the coffin along the cobbled pier again.

  ’But tell me, it isn’t your pa, is it?’