Hans held the bronzewood door open, letting Gunther enter the arena first.

  “This is awesome,” Gunther said, admiring the grand chamber. He walked to the parapet and leaned over to look at the pit below. “How long has this been under construction?”

  “Uh, that’s hard to estimate,” Hans answered. “For a bit, I guess. We’ll be using it in classes after the next box goblin comes.”

  “I’m the first to see this?!”

  Hans laughed. “Not first, but close. You are the first person to test it who isn’t me.”

  “Really? What are we doing?”

  “I haven’t gotten to go on a run with you in a long time. That would be more okay if you weren’t trying to do this Blue Berserker class, but since you are, I need to learn more about how you’re using it. It’s tough to coach you on improving your style if I don’t know. Does that make sense?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “So, we’re going to put you in the pit. I’m going to let some monsters out and watch what you do. I’ll be here to help if anything goes wrong.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “You don’t even know what monsters are in here.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  Hans attempted to form an argument but abandoned the idea entirely. Instead, he said, “No spores. Everything I can throw at you is vulnerable to Sleep, so use other tactics and abilities instead.”

  “Got it.”

  “Okay, head down and let me know when you’re ready.”

  When Gunther reached the bottom of the pit, he tapped his sword on his gargantuan shield and set his stance.

  “First up are five goblins.” Hans speared the armarillia beneath the floor and then dropped a Wake potion into the goblin enclosure.

  He heard the glass bottle shatter against the ground. The sounds of small angry monsters grew. By the time Hans pulled the pin to drop the gate, they shook the bars and smashed their weapons against it. One of the goblins was too slow in releasing the gate. It lost both of its hands to the weight of the barrier suddenly falling into the floor.

  Need to fix that somehow.

  Two goblins charged Gunther, yelling squeaky war cries. He cut down both with one wide, powerful swing. That gave the other two goblins reason to pause. The fifth goblin, the one missing its hands, was still screaming about its injuries and hadn’t left the enclosure.

  When the goblins didn’t engage, Gunther stomped his foot and shouted “Quake!” violently shaking the ground with an earth elemental ability. He lunged forward before the shaking ended and swiftly thrust his sword into each goblin’s stomach.

  Hans used a Root Spear to put the last goblin out of its misery.

  “Good work,” Hans said. “What does Mazo think of your Blue Mage command words?”

  “She said they’re silly. I like them.”

  “I’m with you. Six kobolds next.”

  Each of the lizard monsters were half as tall as Gunther and carried wooden spears matching their stature, making them barely as long as the tusk’s sword.

  Where the goblins dove into battle, the kobolds circled Gunther, keeping their distance, waiting for the right moment to strike.

  Gunther yelled, “Splash!” A jet of water shot from his sword. The force knocked one of the kobolds off of its feet but didn’t kill it. The other kobolds seized the opportunity and lunged at the tusk.

  He spun, blocking two spears with his shield and parrying one more. The simple strength of Gunther’s defense knocked the kobolds into one another, keeping two from ever getting close enough to truly attack. All but one managed to retreat out of range before Gunther countered. The head of the unlucky kobold rolled several feet across the pit before coming to a stop.

  “Heat!” A small wall of fire, perhaps two feet tall, appeared in front of Gunther and rolled forward. This ability was borrowed from a fire elemental. One kobold was too slow. It rolled around on the ground screaming. Gunther cut down two more, stomped on the head of the kobold he had struck with water, and beheaded the kobold rolling around on fire.

  The last kobold ran to the pit walls and tried to climb out.

  “Do I have to chase it?” Gunther asked, looking up at Hans.

  “Nah.” A root pierced the kobold a moment later.

  “Good work. I’ve got water up here if you want it.”

  “Is that it?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “You don’t have more monsters?”

  “Not for a solo encounter, no,” Hans answered.

  “Aw, come on. These were too easy.”

  “There’s an ogre…”

  “I’ll fight an ogre.”

  “Fine,” Hans said. “If things look bad for a second, I’m ending the match. No complaining about it.”

  Gunther set his stance, and Hans released the ogre.

  The tusk slammed his shield into the ground as if he were spiking a sword. The shield, now embedded in the pavers, stood on its own, and Gunther ducked behind it.

  The ogre lumbered into the pit, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped forward to smash the shield with a hammerfist.

  When the ogre’s hand was at its highest, Gunther dove out from behind the shield, hitting a forward roll. In the same motion as he stood, he cut the tendon of the ogre’s ankle. As the monster recoiled from the attack, shocked and confused, Gunther kept his momentum and pirouetted behind the ogre.

  His free hand slapped the uninjured leg, and he yelled, “Petrify.” Stone radiated out from the point of contact, Petrify readily racing up the ogre’s leg.

  Having just lost a tendon, the ogre was already off balance. The sudden petrification came before it had recovered its footing, so instead of freezing in place, the ogre’s stone leg broke off at the knee. The monster crashed into the ground and managed only a single bark before being frozen completely.

  “See?” Gunther said, turning to address Hans. “I told you I’d be fine.”

  When Gunther climbed out of the pit, Hans handed him a waterskin. “I thought you didn’t like Petrify.”

  “Quentin says it will be good against big enemies. I’m trying to remember it when I’m in close.”

  Quentin was right. Killing a monster as large as an ogre was often like chopping down a tree because human weapons couldn’t easily reach vulnerable anatomy. Petrify, however, affected all of a creature, no matter where it started. Getting that close to an enemy like that was a risk, but Gunther had been smart about it.

  “Leaving the shield behind was an interesting choice,” Hans said.

  Gunther shrugged. “Didn’t want to be slow against an ogre. Saw the shadow of his hand go up and knew he was close enough.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Yeah, that’s smart.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Hans. That was fun.”

  “Let me ask you something. Have you put any thought into what you’re doing next spring? The Assassins will probably rotate out of escort duty to take jobs elsewhere in the kingdom. You all seemed to like working together.”

  “They’re nice.”

  “Agreed.”

  Gunther dumped water on his face and wiped it away. “I go where Kane goes.”

  “So you’re not interested in traveling with the Assassins?”

  “Not if Kane isn’t coming.”

  “That’s a lot of field experience. Even just a few months could help you learn a lot.”

  “Don’t care,” Gunther replied. “No Kane, no Gunny. I’m not dealing with hummies without him there.”

  “The Assassins aren’t human…”

  “I know. Kingdom is though. Nothing but hummies.”

  “Right.”

  Gunther handed the waterskin back to Hans. “I know you don’t like me saying stuff like that.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “We promised to always protect each other from hummies,” Gunther added. “I was little, so I don’t remember the whole trip here, but I remember that.”

  “Sounds like you’ve given it a lot of thought.”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, alright then.”

  Thus far, we’ve talked about adventurer research in the context of specific jobs. A well-rounded adventurer, however, will never stop researching.

  This means being generally curious about the world and about how things work. If your efforts to learn are limited to the jobs you take, you miss out on a vast amount of knowledge that could save your life and the lives of your party. But that means talking to people when there’s no money to be earned. That means reading books when there’s nothing to kill. That means taking notes like a proper student despite there being no test to take.

  Adventurers, by nature, are curious individuals, but reading a book doesn’t match the feeling of plumbing the depths of a new dungeon.

  As Guild Masters, we can’t force adventurers to visit the library on their own time, but we can model the behavior and reinforce its importance throughout our other work. Our students need to see us reading, and our students need gentle encouragement to keep the importance of learning top of mind.

  Some ideas:

  -Make an announcement when a new book is available that might be helpful, such as a book on monster biology or a new history on a set of ruins.

  -Incorporate new readings into classroom sessions, even if they are no more than casual mentions.

  -Highlight the role that research and curiosity played when reviewing job debriefs so adventurers can see the real-world benefits of following this advice.

  -Expand your own horizons as you read regularly. Don’t be afraid to pick up a book on art or philosophy, and let your adventurers see that you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone.

  Adventurers are the spear tip of civilization. We will always face unknowns, but we are at our best when we bring as much of that civilization with us as we can.

  Hans frowned. He had a hard time believing this essay would convince an adventurer with an aversion to reading to suddenly reverse course. Then again, no essay was likely to have that power because those adventurers wouldn’t read essays anyway.

  “Mr. Hans.”

  Looking up from his desk, Hans saw Sven sitting at a guild table with several books.

  “May I ask you a few questions? It’s okay if you’re busy.”

  “I’ve got time. What’s up?”

  “Can I do more than take notes about Rogue lessons?”

  “That’s plenty.”

  “I want to do more than list out what I learned,” Sven said. “I’d like to contribute.”

  Hans thought. “More detailed reflections would be a big help. Capturing what you learned is definitely useful, but if you can put more thought into observing how something was taught, we can cover more ground. For example, say there’s a certain kind of lock your teacher recommends you start with. Pay attention for moments where things clicked or where you were confused and maybe frustrated. Take note of what explanations you liked and what you felt could have been clearer.”

  “Am I evaluating the Silver? Like a performance review?”

  “Not at all,” Hans answered. “It’s more like you’re mining for nuggets. Every instructor will have a moment where they used the perfect analogy or the perfect drill to teach something. A lot of times, those are made up in the moment and disappear forever, but they also tend to be the most memorable part of a lesson. The things you never forget.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “I once had an instructor tell me that you could never get enough practice moving your hips. He said, ‘Have a lot of sex or do a lot of dancing… I did a lot of dancing.’ That’s exactly how he said it, and I’ll never forget that.”

  Sven laughed.

  “I can still tell you exactly the movement we were working on, and that was fifteen years ago. Oh gods, it’s been longer than that now. Or this other time, I was having trouble with a choke, and the teacher told me to ‘Keep your head close enough to his that you can whisper about how you’re going to fuck his mum after you’ve killed him.’”

  Sven’s eyes went wide.

  “Some nuggets are better than others. The point is that not everyone learns the way you do, but there are lots of folks who do. If you help us figure out what works and doesn’t work for students like Sven, you save every Sven that comes after you a ton of headaches. But this is above and beyond. You don’t have to do all that if you don’t want to.”

  “I want to.”

  “Then I’m grateful,” Hans said. “If it gives you any trouble, let me know. It can be strange to get the hang of at first.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Did you get to try the lockpicking box by chance?” Hans asked. “That came in after you, so it’s not brand new, but Pogo has found it helpful.”

  “It’s neat. The locks are outdated, but the traps are a good challenge.”

  Hans cocked his head.

  “I’m not complaining. I’m sorry if it sounded that way.”

  “No, no. I didn’t take it like that. I don’t know shit about locks and never thought about them going out of style or whatever. How outdated are we talking?”

  “You’ll find the kind of locks in the box all over still, so it’s not long they’ve gone away. Learning them is still good for a working man. The people with the good stuff, though, they don’t cheap out on security. The smart ones don’t, anyway. Do you know what a lever tumbler is?”

  “Not a clue.”

  “Basically, there’s a bunch of little levers inside the lock,” Sven said. “The right key will align all of the levers to allow the bolt to rotate. They’re still expensive, but they’re not exactly new. The newer ones, though, have false gates to trip you up.”

  “False gates?”

  “Right. You wouldn’t have heard of those either… There’s a little indent in the side of the levers where the key fits. That’s a gate. You’re pretending to be a key when you’re picking, so finding gates with a lever lock is how you crack it. A false gate is meant to feel like a real gate, so you get stuck and won’t know why.”

  “Fascinating. Where did you learn all of this?” Hans asked.

  Sven looked around and spoke quietly when he answered. “When I was a kid, I started as a lookout for this gang and worked my way up to burglaries. The guy in charge was a sicko, real cruel, evil type, so I bailed as soon as I could. Took me a few years, but you know. He was smart, though, too. If our crew couldn’t pick a lock, we smashed our way in. Broke the windows. Ripped down the door. Whatever.

  “Boss made us bring home any lock we couldn’t beat, if we could. It’s pretty hard to only take a piece of a door when you’re on a job, but we came home with a few. Then we learned how to bust them.”

  “Is that because picking a lock is better than breaking in?”

  Sven whistled. “Way better. The big thing is that it’s quiet. There’s no sneaky way to kick a door off its hinges. That’s all this gang really cared about, being quiet, I mean. Later, I figured out that if you aren’t a greedy pig, you can snag something good but not mess with anything else. It might take them days to realize it’s gone.”

  “At which point, you’re not around.”

  “You got it.”

  Hans made a note in his journal: source more locks. “See? I already feel like I understand Rogues a lot better just from that.”

  “I thought you might get upset about the stories.”

  “But you still shared them?”

  “Yeah,” Sven replied. “I gotta show you I’m serious about being here.”

  “I don’t need to be convinced you’re serious. And you already know how I feel about stealing. If you hurt people, I’d be concerned, but good criminals often make good adventurers. They’re used to thinking things through and anticipating problems. I don’t advocate continuing that hobby, but it’s also none of my business. Gret had a good set of rules for that: Don’t hurt anyone, which includes stealing from a person who can’t afford the loss, and don’t do it in my town. Oh, and leave me out of it. The less I know, the better.”

  “I remember you telling that story.”

  “Ah, sorry. I repeat myself a lot.”

  “It’s fine,” Sven said. “Thank you for answering my question. I’ll let you get back to work.”

  Several quiet minutes passed. Sven lifted his head back up.

  “Really, thank you.”

  “What’s that?” Hans asked, looking away from his notes.

  “Thank you for giving me a second chance.”

  “You don’t need to keep thanking me. Really. We’re square. I appreciate you giving me a second chance just as much. There’s enough about our lives that we can never undo or take back. I’m glad we aren’t letting a disagreement be one of them.”

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

  Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  Relocate the titan bones to the dungeon entrance.

  Master your Diamond boon.