The walk back to the Academy was uneventful. The whole way, Morgan spoke with Annabelle about different types of armor she could craft. She had gotten the crafting skill, and with it came a large number of recipes for various styles of armor. She said there were also some for sale in the shop that she couldn’t afford.

  Morgan tried to concentrate on the conversation with Annabelle, but he kept getting distracted by the lavender scent of shampoo that Mara was wearing. It wafted off of her as they walked, mixing with the scent of her sweat, rust, and grease. It had a comforting smell that was fully unique and identified her. It was making Morgan’s mind swim in ways he had never experienced before.

  Frank smelled like an old fire with sage or some other earthy plant. Annabelle smelled of leather and mint soap. But it was the wisps of lavender in the air that made his head swim. He was losing his mind. His heart was starting to thud in his chest, overshadowing the sounds of the conversation. His armor felt tight, and a layer of sweat was starting to cover his whole body. He had to go and scout or something. He excused himself before leaping toward the Academy.

  He asked Sophia after they were a few hundred yards away.

  The thudding of his heart had stopped. But now his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. His body is processing the adrenaline from his system, apparently. Morgan landed in the grounds of the Academy, just as a large group of men was leaving through the far gate. Johansen was with them, and the group was carrying a large white flag. The guards closed the gate behind the group and then slumped or slouched.

  Katherine, in a full suit of armor, stood at the landing of the academy's entrance, surrounded by a group of guards. She saw him as he approached. Her face was grim and drawn into a hard line. It softened slightly as he approached, but she remained stoic.

  “They were here to negotiate,” she practically spat. “They didn’t know that Marshall was killed in the attack. They demanded that we release him and allow access to the shop kiosk.” She smiled thinly and without it reaching her eyes. “They were taken aback when they learned of Marshall’s fate. They also wanted to know who the man in the black mask was. One of the young men was in a tiff over our not giving them your name.”

  Morgan nodded. He knew who it was. He wasn’t ready to mentally unpack that right now. So he swallowed and continued. “Thank you for not telling them.”

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  “They can rot in bloody hell,” She took a deep breath, “He also said that they will be back. They have also gained more members in their outlaw gang. I expect they are all prisoners that escaped together, now thick as thieves.”

  “We can move out soon, maybe three or four days. Mara will have a better guess than me.” Morgan encouraged.

  “I know, it’s just a lot to worry about. That and the drastic increase in monsters spawning. It has been a madhouse here. We get attacked every fifteen minutes.” She ran her hand over her forehead and down her face, “Now I am not so sure about uprooting and trying to have this mobile fortress.”

  “At the very least, we want to be out of the mountains before the weather goes bad. It’s already getting chilly at night. It won’t be long before we could find snow on the ground.”

  “That is the most pressing matter, Mr. Ward. Exposure will kill people just as dead as an orc will.” A guard ran up and interrupted them.

  “Ma’am, the East side has a group of wolves or something.”

  “Excuse me, I will need to see to this,” Katherine said, turning. Then, over her shoulder as she walked away, “Meet me in my office later with Mara to go over the timeline for our departure.”

  Morgan then accessed the shop. Sophia informed him that she would be unavailable for a short period while she downloaded and installed an update. Morgan scrolled through the list of options manually. I was clunky, and there was no search function. It had a filter option, but only for broad categories like rarity. He scrolled for about five minutes. While deciding between a red and a gray cloak, Sophia startled him.

  Morgan said, wrinkling his eyebrows.

  Morgan didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open. Sophia continued her spewing of useful information.

  Morgan thought as he closed his eyes.

  The world behind his eyelids blurred and went hazy and opaque. Then Morgan opened his eyes to see that he was standing in a large, open, golden field. He was wearing his pieces of armor and his normal clothes. The bastard sword was in his hands. The tall stalks of grass swayed hypnotically in the wind. He could feel the breeze as it swept over him. It carried with it rich scents of earth and grass. A slim figure materialized in front of Morgan. It was the same image Sophia had used when in her small blue form. Short blonde hair was tied up in a blue cloth around her head. She was wearing a set of red leather armor and holding a sword identical to Morgan’s.

  “Stand here, facing me,” She commanded. Pointing at a spot of bare earth beside her. Once Morgan reached the spot. Sophia moved into a high stance with the sword held above her head, ready for a powerful downward cut. “This

  Sophia made him do those two moves over and over, performing small corrections and nudging him over and over. At times, there were two Sophias. She would point to the other Sophia and show Morgan what he was doing wrong. Then they moved on to another set of moves.

  After five minutes, Morgan opened his eyes. He had just spent like two weeks of non-stop training with Sophias in VISTA. Morgan could only think of that one old movie where they basically uploaded stuff into people’s brains. “I know kung fu,” he whispered out loud as a giant smile split his face.