Chapter 38 – Payday Choices

You have gained 11 experience points

XP to next level: 83

Titus stared at the text informing him that he'd slowly made progress along his experience bar, closing the gap further ready for his first-ever level up. Eighty-three points wasn't going to come easily, but any progress was good progress in his mind.

"You get eleven points too?" Petra asked, confirming that they'd all shared in the spoils.

"Oh yeah," Titus confirmed, and Jordan nodded. Ever since the fight had finished, he'd been both quiet and pale.

"Oh, come on, Jordan," Petra patted the large Defender on the back. "You can't still be scared of that spider. After all, I was the one they had to cast two cleaning spells on just to get all the blood off me. Plus remember: he can’t hurt you now."

It was true, and Titus had actually found it kind of strange; the first cleaning spell had washed all the blood off the Rogue but had left her requiring a second to get it off her clothes. Titus and Jordan had just needed the single spell, and again he was eternally grateful for the ease with which cleanliness was accomplished.

"It... it's not that," Jordan said slowly. The group had returned to the prep room after the crowd had showered them with cheers and whoops. Then after replacing their weapons, getting a health potion and a quick once-over with the cleaning spell, they'd sat down on the stone bench to decompress before heading out to their next class.

"It... well, I thought I knew the things we were going to have to go up against. I thought... I just thought I knew better, you know? Any of us could've died out there, any of us. All of us..."

"Yeah, but we didn't," Petra said. "We won, and you know what that means: we got stronger, better, and after a few more fights like that, we'll all be levelling up, and then monsters like that aren't going to stand a chance."

"Eight," Jordan said.

"What?" Petra asked.

"Eight. We're going to have to get through eight more battles like that to level up. And besides, after that, there'll be a new enemy for us to struggle against. A new enemy with new skills and abilities. New ways to kill us, and if I don't know how to beat it..."

"But that's the point, isn't it?" Titus asked, inserting himself into the conversation. "We're supposed to always do what we can to grow and to face the challenges the monsters bring. That's how we defend the City, isn't it?"

Jordan clicked his tongue but didn't respond, his gaze still firmly fixed on the ground.

Titus's words hung in the air for a moment, and the room fell into a heavy silence. The weight of their recent battle and Jordan's contemplations pressed down on them all.

Petra sighed and leaned back against the stone wall. "Look, Jordan, I get it. It was a tough fight, and we're all a bit shaken up. But that's why we're here. We'll learn from this, get better, and face whatever comes our way, just you wait and see."

Jordan nodded slowly, but the unease in his eyes didn't fade completely. "I know, Petra. It's just... it's a lot to take in, you know? I thought I was prepared for this, but that spider... it was something else. I never expected..."

"You never expected to have to use your head!" Petra summarised. "But it's just so big!"

Titus placed a reassuring hand on Jordan's shoulder. "We're still alive, my friend. And we're getting stronger with every battle. We've got each other's backs, and we'll figure out how to win every time. I know we will."

Jordan managed a weak smile. "You're right, Titus. Thanks, guys. I guess I just needed a moment to process it all."

Petra grinned. "That's the spirit! Now, let's focus on the positive. We won our first fight, got some experience points, and we're one step closer to levelling up. Plus, we've got some new stories to tell."

Titus chuckled. "That's the spirit, Petra. And speaking of stories, I wonder what the next monster's going to be because I'd be happy to never see another spider for as long as I live."

"You aren't the only one," Jordan agreed.

The rest of the week passed without much incident for any of the three friends to report. They attended their classes as they should, separately when the cass called for it and sitting together whenever they could. Meal times were always particularly enjoyable because they had the chance to speak freely, just like they did before bed when the three were all alone together in their shared dorm.

The notice board on the wall had remained blank since their last fight, which the Grandmaster had said it was going to so that all of the new Blues had the chance to take to the arena sands in a fair and timely manner - something they all did, and something that ended in a grand total of zero deaths on the part of the Contestants. The monsters, however, were not so lucky.

All in all, it had been a good week. Titus had learnt about the history of Contestants and the Arena, Classes, specialisations, a range of monsters, and he’d even managed to keep out of the way of Ferran Torres in his Spellcasting class, though it was clear that the Instructor and every Spellcaster in the class still didn’t particularly like him - they more just left him alone to sit and listen, all the while realising that Titus was never going to be a masterful Spellcaster.

It was something that Titus had come to accept too, a fact that kept him up at night on more than one occasion. He was never going to be a great Spellcaster. He was never going to be a great Warrior, Defender, or Rogue either, and the more he realised that keeping his secret ‘Capacitor’ Class just that - a secret - the further he would fall behind just about everyone else in the arena. People would notice before long.

Combat class was really the only thing that Titus felt he was making good progress in. He’d mainly practised with a light wooden sword and a small round buckler attached to his left forearm and had actually gotten pretty good at remaining guarded whilst still providing an effective offence when fighting against his two friends. He knew that Jordan was playing down his own skill though, having already been training for years, and Petra had slowed down her movements so that Titus could keep up. Nevertheless, improvements had certainly been made.

It was also partly because every time Titus thought back to the fight against the Frostbite Spider, he couldn’t help but feel he was next to useless, and when he had the chance, he was going to see what he could do to buy at least one offensive weapon so that he could be of use to his friends and teammates. Especially if his Sacrifice ability wasn’t even as good as a healing spell either.

And today was the day he was going to have the chance to make that difference. Because today was payday.

Petra had already promised Titus her weekly salary of a single gold, and Jordan had said he was going to send his salary in its entirety back home to his family. That meant that after a fair amount of Titus telling Petra he didn’t actually need her to pay him back for her stiletto yet, he had a grand total of two gold to spend on making something useful of himself.

The group made a beeline for the merchants as soon as they’d finished breakfast.

“You think I should try to get a bow and arrows?” Titus asked as they made their way to where the merchants peddled their wares beyond the dining hall.

“Uh, don’t take this the wrong way,” Jordan said, “but have you actuallever y used a bow and arrow?”

Titus shook his head. “Can’t be too hard though, can it?”

Jordan smiled. “Well you know how you’ve been trying to learn how to use a sword for a couple of weeks now?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, learning to fire an arrow properly is kind of like that, but twice as hard.”

“That’s not too bad,” Titus replied. “I’m getting pretty good with the sword and…”

"No, you're not," Jordan said.

"What?" Titus asked, looking at Petra now.

"Listen, Titus," Petra said, placing a hand on Titus’s shoulder. "You know we love you. But no, you’re terrible with a sword. And if anyone’s going to use a bow out there, it’s going to be me. That’s part of a Rogue’s arsenal."

"Oh right," Titus said. "So you get a bow and a knife, and Jordan gets a sword and shield. What do I get? You know, other than the definite sense that you two would be better off without me."

"Well, you know there’s no smoke without fire," Jordan replied thoughtfully.

Petra laughed, and Titus smiled, though he did feel a little hurt by the statement.

"Listen, we’ll figure this all out in no time. We just have to figure out your niche!" Jordan placated. "So why don’t we go and see what the God of Balance has provided for you in your hour of need."

The three friends stepped into the Merchant Hall and almost immediately, they were accosted by the same shouts and decrees as they had been before.

"Come, my friend! You will see no superior clothing in all of the City!" one merchant proclaimed.

"If you would like to know what real luxury is, then come and sample my silks! You could truly not be closer to the Gods, than sleeping on this mysterious, magical material," came the loud reply of another.

It was like they were reciting a script that never changed, but Titus already knew to skip past these ones and get into the real meat of the hall. He wanted to see what the weapons merchants had to offer. Failing anything exciting there, he’d move along to the armourers and see if he could at least find something useful there.

“Good morning to you, my friend,” the first merchant they’d approached announced with a warm smile. He was tall and thin with curly dark hair, and features that weren’t commonly seen within the City. “Let me astonish you with the range of weaponry I have available. But may I ask before we begin, what is your Class?”

Titus opened his mouth and was about to automatically respond with his real Class of ‘Capacitor’ but managed to catch himself just in time, changing his answer to ‘Spellcaster’.

“Ah, this is very good,” the merchant replied. “I have many fine weapons that will suit you well within the arena. But first, let me show you something truly wonderful. Something that will showcase the quality of my wares.”

A new wall of text greeted Titus, and he read the whole thing from top to bottom.

Wonderous staff of Complete Healing

Value: 200g

Effect: +250 mana

Effect: Once per 300 seconds, this staff can be used to cast a spell of Full Healing on any intended target.

Restriction: Spellcaster Class only

Restriction: Wisdom of 20 or more

Titus couldn’t help but feel his jaw drop at the description. The staff that was being described was something that would truly come in handy for a Spellcaster that had the sole purpose of supporting his two friends, a Defender and a Rogue. But Titus knew a second after he’d read the description and seen how useful the staff could be, it was no good to him, even if he could afford the gold – which he couldn’t.

The staff had a restriction, and no matter how many times he called himself a Spellcaster to keep his true Class a secret, a Spellcaster he was not.

Titus mentally dismissed the staff and looked at the merchant again.

“It's… a magnificent staff,” he said carefully. “But way, way out of my price range. Plus, I don’t know if I want something with so many restrictions. Maybe there’s something that I could buy for me, that could come in handy for the others if they needed to use it?”

The merchant frowned at that, like it was something he’d never heard of before.

“You mean a staff that a Warrior could use if he drops his sword?” he asked. “I am afraid there is nothing that comes to mind to fit this example. But you are right that in the lower price ranges, there tend to be fewer restrictions. But hand in hand with that comes fewer abilities and less power. It is the way of life, is it not?”

Titus nodded. “Tell me about it,” he replied. “But it’s all I can afford at the moment, so why don’t you show me what you have for two gold or less.”

“Two gold or less!” The merchant replied with a grin. “Well there are plenty of items that you could use within this range, but why don’t you narrow it down a little. Are you looking for a staff, wand, magical artifacts that contain spells? This is very much like asking a blacksmith for a list of what he can make; there is such a range of lower-tier items that to list them all would be impossible!”

Titus scratched his chin thoughtfully. He knew that having already told the merchant that he was a Spellcaster, he would need to continue along that path, but he needed something that he could get that wasn't necessarily just useful to those walking the path.

And then he had an idea. "Show me staffs for up to two gold, with healing abilities and no restrictions on Class."

The merchant's smile faltered slightly at the order, and after a long moment, he returned with one single item.

Minor Healing Staff

Value: 2g

Effect: +5 mana

Effect: This staff has the inbuilt ability to cast a minor healing spell on a given target. This spell will heal the target for 8HP.

Spell Cost: 5 mana.

Cooldown: 120 seconds.

"This is the only item that I have in my possession that fits your criteria," the merchant said. "It may seem like it does little, but I assure you the price reflects this. In a pinch, this staff will give you what you are looking for, but I must say that once you begin to grow in strength, it will be of less use to you."

It was strange to hear the merchant speaking as if he were trying not to sell the item, but at least it gave Titus the out he needed. Of course, the staff did offer some of the functionality he sought, but healing his friends for just 8HP once every couple of minutes really didn't seem that useful in the grand scheme of things. As for the extra mana, he had no immediate use for it anyway.

"I think I'll leave this one," he eventually stated. "Maybe we'll keep looking for a while?"

The merchant simply nodded and stepped away politely, allowing Titus and his friends to move along to another vendor.

"That seemed pretty good," Petra whispered to Titus. "It gives you the ability to heal us just like you wanted, so you wouldn't have to just stand there like a lemon."

"I know," Titus replied, also whispering. "But it's just not for me," he emphasised the last part. "And healing you for just eight points doesn't really seem that useful in the grand scheme of things."

"He's not wrong," Jordan inserted himself into the conversation, also whispering. "Now is the time to start looking to the future, to our long term. If we waste what we have on getting through the next couple of fights, it could hurt us in the long run."

Petra came to an abrupt halt as Jordan finished speaking, and Titus nearly walked straight into her.

"What?" Titus said. "Did you see something?"

"No," Petra said, staring at Jordan. "It's just that... sometimes when he says things like that, it's like someone's mind controlling him, you know? Like his intelligence just rose by half. And then when you ask him something else, it plummets back down to earth."

Titus couldn't help but smile. It was funny how Petra always seemed to be able to make him laugh. He was also smiling because something the large Defender had said actually resonated with him. He did need to look to the future.

"He's right, though," Titus announced. "We do need to think about what can help us in the long term. Honestly, I don't think that anything I can buy for myself right now is going to achieve that. Not least because I don't know what direction I'm going to take, but mostly because in a few weeks, it's probably going to be redundant, right?"

"So what are you going to do?" Petra asked. "You can't just do nothing, can you?"

"Oh no," Titus replied with a devious grin. "I'm going to invest in something that I do know will be useful in the future. I'm going to invest in you two, keeping you alive more accurately. Really, I don't need a sword and shield because that's what you two are."

Jordan stared at Titus with a bemused grin on his face, while Petra caught on immediately.

"You can't..." she started.

"Oh, I can, and I am," Titus cut her off. "Come on, let's go and see what kind of armour I can get for you both."

It only took ten minutes for Titus to find what he was looking for. It was easier than he'd expected because, as it turned out, armour was either the standard stuff that ranged from leather guards to shining gold plate, which was relatively cheap because beyond that, the enchanted stuff, items with stat increases or imbued abilities, were far more expensive.

In the end, Titus had managed to haggle his two gold up to a light chainmail shirt for himself, something he hadn't planned on buying but Petra had made a good case for keeping himself alive too. He also purchased a leather shirt and skirt in a stylish black for his Rogue friend, and some dull steel plate armour for Jordan, which unfortunately didn't include a helmet but covered most of his arms and body, resembling most of a suit of armour.

In the end, the addition to their longevity in the arena could be quantified as follows: Titus gained an additional three points of Defence, Petra gained two points, and Jordan gained five points. Nothing major, but it was something to think about nonetheless.