Seeds of Discordia

Liam walked under the lightly lit Yooperlite stone that hung on the ceiling of the cavern replicating early to mid-morning. He was walking away from the Smithy with a smile on his face.

Fia was both surprised and amazed when she found out Liam was part Cait Sith. Of course, she had given him a warning about being careful with who he told and suggested he get sunglasses to cover his eyes when he wasn’t using his goggles. Which he did after he left.

She had also given him another warning. One he wasn’t prepared for. It was about other Arcadians, the many clans and species of the Beast kins. They had no issues with other beast kins, but half beast kins was a different thing.

While many did not care about such things, there were still some who didn’t like the fact that some of their kind were mating with non-beast kins. It wasn’t only like this for the beast kins, many other races had a small select amount of people who felt the same way.

When it came down to it, Liam guessed, they were probably rejected by someone from a different race, and it probably hurt their fragile pride. Liam couldn’t care less but would still be careful.

To Liam’s surprise though, Fia was a Dwarf. A Dwarf from a clan she called Rune Hammer. Apparently the Rune Hammer Clan Dwarves were known for their magical weapon and armor crafting.

She wasn’t as short as the ones he had grown up to see in movies and such, but still stood a little shorter than Liam but taller than Galin. He was impressed that, even though her appearance had that look of one who worked hard in a smithy, she still had a fair maiden appearance.

Liam had told her this and she almost threw her runic hammer at him. With a smile of course.

He spent his time with her asking about how to repair weapons and armor and some other techniques he was interested in. She took her time going over the basics of repairs and helped him raise that part of his Blacksmithing.

Liam was shocked to find out that his new eyes helped him spot things easier when he was repairing. It was a welcome change compared to how his hearing was. Most of the time he swung his hammer and hit metal, he wanted to cover them.

Fia teased him about this, calling him a wee little baby for being concerned over a little noise.

Before he left and others arrived, she gave him the bone daggers made from the legs of the Black Widow Matriarch she worked on for the past couple of days. She was able to make eight of them since they were small in design.

Liam was excited when he assessed them.

“Throwing Bone Dagger of The Black Widow Matriarch. Item Rarity – Rare. Item Quality – Average. +5% to Sub-stat Fine Motor when throwing this dagger. +10% to any and all poisons or toxins effects when coated. Can hold Poisons and toxins when coated longer than normal bone weapons thanks to Black Widow Matriarch materials.”

Besides the bonuses the daggers gave, Liam was happy she made them with the same curve he did with the daggers he made. She had told him she agreed with the design since throwing daggers needed an easier way to slice when thrown compared to the normal straight daggers she was accustomed to.

“Things keep getting more exciting with each minute,” Liam muttered to himself with a wide grin.

His grin slipped into a serious one as he thought to himself, Now to see what Nabal wanted to talk to me about.

 

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Liam entered the building of the Training Hall and made his way to the desk.

At the desk was a man he recognized from his first day arriving at the Tutorial Area and meeting Menara.

The man stood there with an unfriendly expression on his face as he casually glanced at Menara’s direction.

She had a few people waiting to talk to her while he had none.

Liam wasn’t too sure why the people waiting didn’t go to him until he watched a girl approach him and started to ask him a question.

The man’s eyes shot straight at her with a scowl as he asked, “How can I help you?”

The girl, uneasy now, apologized and excused herself away.

Now I know. Liam thought as he shook his head. You’ve got no one to blame but yourself.

He walked over to the line and waited.

When it was finally his turn, Menara looked at him and asked, “Liam?”

Liam nodded, noticing the man raise a brow as he looked at him.

“I may sound a bit rude so please excuse me when I ask this, but why are you wearing sunglasses inside the building?” Menara asked with a curious expression.

Liam gave her a smile as he said, “The changes of my race reveal made my eyes a bit more sensitive to light so I’m trying to adjust to it.”

Liam saw the man in the corner of his eyes do something weird as he titled his body away.

“Ah,” Menara said with a look of understanding. “That makes sense. Congratulations on passing the fourth floor and reconfiguring into your true race.”

Liam nodded. “Thank you.”

“How can I help you today?” Menara asked with her genuine looking smile.

“I was wondering if Nabal was around? He asked me to meet up with him,” Liam responded.

“Hm,” Menara muttered. She then replied, “I believe he is in. Excuse me while I go and see if he’s in one of the rooms in the back.”

“Ok,” Liam said as she walked away from the desk.

As Liam stood there, he had a weird feeling that was coming from his left side.

He shifted his eyes to see if he could grasp where the feeling was coming from and noticed the man staring at him.

Not wanting to sound rude or come off standish, Liam asked as he slowly looked at the man, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Huh?” the man asked, body tensing.

“You’ve been staring at me pretty hard, so I thought maybe there was something wrong,” Liam said keeping his facial expression neutral.

“No, nope…nothing wrong,” the man said, sounding a little panicked.

“Ah ok. Then I am sorry for misunderstanding your constant gaze on me then,” Liam said as he looked back at the desk in front of him.

Come on, Menara. Hurry back with Nabal. This guy is creeping me out. Liam thought as he felt his right leg start to bounce a bit.

“Excuse me,” a silky yet oily voice called out. “You wouldn’t happen to be Liam would you?”

Liam froze as he recognized the voice.

No. Was all Liam could think as he kept his eyes forward.

At the corner of his eyes on the left side of him a figure stood, placing a hand on the desk.

“Excuse me, I’m talking to you,” Steve tried again, but this time sounding a bit annoyed.

Liam slowly turned his head and stared at him.

He stood a foot taller than Liam. He had slicked back oily black hair and stared at him with half dead looking hazel eyes. His Mage Tower uniform looked neat and pristine, but his body looked tight and leathery as if he wasn’t getting enough nutrition from food.

Liam tried as hard as he could to not gag or throw up as a nauseating smell that smelled like a mix of rotten eggs and decay wafted into his nostrils.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said, trying his best to fight the swirling liquids clashing in his stomach. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you were Liam?” Steve asked once more.

“Nope, I am not,” Liam answered, knowing the guy knew who he was.

Steve frowned as he looked at him then at the man standing behind the desk.

The man behind the desk gave Liam a confused look as well.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, trying once more.

“I’m pretty sure,” Liam replied as he turned his face away, trying to get away from the smell that was still assaulting his nose.

“Then may I ask what your name is?” Steve asked.

“Nope,” Liam answered without turning to look at him.

“Why not?” Steve asked getting more annoyed. “Isn’t it rude to not face someone when you talk to them?”

“It is, and to answer your question.” Liam started as he turned to face him and continued, “Back where I come from we have a saying called Stranger Danger. And I’m sorry but you reek of it. So, I will have to politely ask you to leave me alone.”

Steve stared at him with his mouth wide open.

The guy standing behind the counter was shocked as well.

Irritation and anger started to fill Steve. He grabbed Liam by the collar and pulled him closer to him. With a scowl he stated, “Listen here you little shit. I know you are messing with me and you really are Liam.”

Liam gagged as the smell was stronger the closer he got.

“I approached you as friendly as I could so I can ask you some questions, but you had go and be rude to me. You will come with me right this moment, you hear?” Steve finished as he stared at Liam.

Liam looked at him while fighting back the bile threatening to rise up as he replied, “Dude you are really taking this Stranger Danger bit too far. I don’t think you can force me to go with you.”

“I have high standing in the Mage Tower and I am a higher level than you,” Steve started. “You have no choice but to obey me.”

Liam scowled. “I do not have to obey you. I don’t care who you are or what level you are. You have no authority over me nor will you ever.”

Steve was about to say something until a hand gripped Steve’s wrist and tightened hard enough for Steve to release Liam.

Steve turned to face who was gripping his wrist to see Nabal.

“What do you think you are doing to this young man?” Nabal asked with narrowed eyes and a threatening tone.

“This young man was rude to me, so I was going to bring him with me back to the Mage Tower and educate him on how to properly obey his betters,” Steve replied.

Nabal’s eyes narrowed even more as his grip tightened on Steve’s wrist.

Steve complained about the pain he was feeling, but then Nabal twisted his hand behind Steve’s back and started to forcefully walk him to the door.

“I don’t know what you thought you are able to get away with where you’re stationed at, but we are not at the Mage Tower. You will leave this young man alone and if you come anywhere close to him again I will make sure your wrist here is broken,” Nabal threatened as he released Steve’s wrist and kicked his back to push him out the door.

Steve swirled around with rage in his eyes. “Do you think you can get away with this Nabal?”

“Would you like to find out?” Nabal asked as he pulled two wicked looking daggers out from the sheathes by his side. “You should know my reputation by now. And in case you don’t, I don’t waste time with stupid people. I kill them first before asking for permission.”

Steve gulped, turned around and stomped away while throwing out a slur of swear words.

Nabal turned to face Liam and asked, “Are you alright?”

Liam nodded. “Yeah I’m fine.”

“I am so sorry about that,” Menara said. “Officials from other buildings are not allowed to push their authority around like that. I will talk to someone from the Mage Tower and see to it they know what one of their own is doing.”

Liam nodded appreciatively before looking at the man behind the desk who was now looking awkward and uncomfortable.

“You were the one who called him, weren’t you?” Liam asked.

Nabal and Menara turned their attention on the man.

“I…I have no clue what you mean,” the man said.

“I saw you do something when Menara asked if I was who I am, so please don’t lie to me,” Liam stated with some annoyance in his tone of voice while keeping a straight face.

Menara narrowed her eyes at him and questioned, “Did you really call that man over here to harass Liam?”

“No,” the man replied as he waved his hands. “He had approached me a couple days ago and asked me to contact him if a Liam had showed up here. I didn’t know what his intentions were, I swear!”

Nabal walked up to the man.

The man was no longer hiding the shaking his body was doing nor the scared look on his face.

“You better be telling the truth, or you know exactly what I’ll do to you.” Nabal said with an even and cold voice.

“I am. I promise,” the man stuttered.

Menara shook her head before looking back at Liam. “I am so sorry this happened.”

“You’re fine you did nothing wrong,” Liam said as he gave her a friendly smile.

Nabal looked at Liam and said, “Follow me to the back. I have some things I’d like to go over for your training.”

Liam gave Nabal his attention, nodded and followed him to the back.

As soon as they entered a room, Nabal shut the door and instructed Liam to sit.

Liam did as he was told and waited.

Nabal sat down and gave Liam an even look.

Liam continued to wait for Nabal to speak, unsure if he had questions or was waiting for Liam to start first.

After a long moment of awkward silence, Nabal asked, “What was that about?”

It was Liam’s turn to gather his thoughts on what he was going to say.

He hadn’t known Nabal for long, but something he did find out about the guy was he stood up for Liam, not once but twice now. He was cautious of the man, but he felt like he could trust him.

So, he explained about how Mercer came across him and the details of their encounter to the fight then what he heard the man say at the Bubbling Potion and finished with his actual encounter with the man.

He left out the part of the dungeon path he and his team were on. As well as the past Galin told him about. He trusted Nabal, but still wouldn’t know what he would do or say if he found out about it.

Nabal stared at Liam with a contemplative look. He gathered his thoughts before saying anything.

“It’s clear he wants to use you for something unsavory and will even break protocol to get what he wants,” Nabal started. “And you’re not sure what he is after?”

“Correct,” Liam said.

He wasn’t lying, he was still not hundred percent sure on what the man was really after.

“Hm,” Nabal muttered. “I don’t know much about the man, but from what you have said it is clear he has some agenda. It looks like I am going to need to up your training.”

Liam raised an eyebrow at Nabal’s words as he repeated, “Up my training?”

Nabal nodded. “Things like this can happen a lot out there if you do something that is eye catching. This situation is a bit worrisome since the only thing I know of that was eye catching about you for others to see was that fight you had.”

Or coming out of the dungeon with a team wearing Rare Rarity equipment. Liam thought to himself.

“This training will be beneficial anyways because it’ll help incorporate your new heightened sense you have gotten,” Nabal continued.

Liam perked up at that. “Will it help lessen the effects so I can focus better?”

Nabal shook his head. “No, instead it will work them so hard you will be able to get used to them and be able to not get distracted by them.”

Liam gave him a worried look. “I’m not sure I like this idea.”

Nabal let out a laugh. “What happened to the young man that took every challenge head on?”

“That guy wasn’t getting a headache from the newly heightened smells and hearing,” Liam grumbled.

“So, your senses truly have heightened to that point?” Nabal asked. “Tell me, what can you smell?”

“For starters, I can smell what you had for breakfast,” Liam said as he sniffed the air. “Eggs with some sweet flavored sauce akin to ketchup but more flavorful.”

Liam took another sniff then pointed to the spot next to Nabal on the couch and stated, “Also, you might not want to sit or get any closer to that spot. Seems like someone had a little too much fun and one of the two had something…extra on them while having their fun.”

Nabal looked at the spot and gave a disgusted look. He then shook his head and said, “Now I can see what you mean by distractions. Now tell me, what do you hear?”

Liam closed his eyes and listened.

“I can hear the people talking at the desk. Some people shouting outside about how the other either was cheating during their spar or how much better they are doing,” Liam replied.

“That’s impressive that you can hear all the way out there,” Nabal smiled. “I will tell you that you will adjust within the next day or so, so you don’t have to worry. It just takes a bit to adjust to one’s new body after the change.”

“Yeah? How do you know?” Liam asked.

“I have a couple of teammates who went through it,” Nabal answered with a warm smile. “I am a native to this world and also a full blooded Human so going through a race change is something I have never had to do, but when my teammates talked about it; they explained everything from the pain of the change to how long it took to adjust to the changes.”

Liam smiled as he listened to Nabal. He remembered the chat between him Adva and Phorge and recalled a name that was brought up.

“I know that questions about a person can be considered rude, and if you find it rude of me to ask you can tell me, but who is Gimmel?” Liam asked curiously.

Nabal’s eyes widened as he looked at him. “Gimmel is my nephew. He just got to the age where he can get his class and start his training, right before this area got the incoming transportees. He got Illusionist Mage, the same class I started off with and was going to train him.”

“What stopped you from staying and doing so?” Liam asked.

“I lost a bet,” Nabal said as he scratched the back of his head. “Not my proudest moments. I was in the middle of a cards game while drunk. One thing lead to another and then the next thing I knew I was told the next morning I lost a bet at the game big time where the loser had to come here and help train the newcomers.”

Liam grimaced. “I’m sorry. It must suck not being there with family.”

Liam looked down at the floor thinking about his father and brothers.

I wonder how their Tutorial went. What classes did they get? And how they are doing. Liam thought.

He was brought out of his thoughts as Nabal let out a loud laugh.

“I can say it’s both a blessing and a curse,” Nabal stated. “It’s a blessing since I don’t have to deal with his rebellious attitude regardless of if he claims that he wishes to walk the same path as me. He can be a handful at times. It’s a curse because with that rebellious attitude of his I can’t whip those bad habits, I know he’ll get, out of him before it becomes a problem.”

Liam let out a laugh of his own upon hearing this.

“Besides, because I came here I was able to find someone who helped me in a way with my own growth,” Nabal stated.  

Liam smiled at his words of encouragement.

“So, your training,” Nabal started until Liam’s eyes widened as he heard a familiar voice.

“I can master this I swear!” Avery shouted.

“I’m not saying you can’t Miss Avery. I’m just saying if you don’t receive the Weapon Art after landing it then maybe you should focus on a different one,” a woman explained.

“What is it?” Nabal asked.

“It’s one of my teammates,” Liam said as he looked at him. “Apparently she is getting some instructions on her Rapier for a Weapon Art, but she didn’t get it after landing the attack.”

Liam frowned at what he heard. Some possibilities ran through his mind. He played with the thought that maybe she was like him, but that couldn’t be it since she was a Crimson Elf.

“Do you think she might be in the same situation you are in?” Nabal asked.

“There’s a possibility but I don’t know,” Liam said.

“Alright, let’s go find them,” Nabal announced as he stood up.

Liam looked at him with a puzzling expression.

“It’s good to go up against others at your level. It’ll help you grow,” Nabal explained. “Also, it’s good to have someone you know and trust help you with your training.”

Liam nodded at his words.

“Alright, let’s go,” Liam said as he stood up and followed.