Using my Identify, I tried to sense what skills I was close to achieving. Trapping was one. I guess helping Yoboc with the access points and the construction of Decoy Dave all worked toward that. If I had made a few different traps myself, I would have had the skill. I will work on that and develop the skill as it is useful.

  Nightsight is levelling fast because of all this straining in the low light. Clearsight is levelling as well and is about to hit apprentice level. I discovered it is very useful for seeing through ice, which is one of the reasons my parents recommended it. When there is a Whiteout, I am the one who can navigate best outside. I found that Clearsight made looking at the night sky a lot clearer. The stars were even more beautiful.

  Yoboc, Goldie and I go hunting once a week. Orir and the dog team will often join us. We hunt well away from the mine. Animals are few and far between during the winter, most having migrated south or gone into hibernation. Yoboc taught me to set traps for animals and the Trapping skill soon slotted into place.

  One of the other purposes for hunting was to map the surface over the mine. Yoboc’s mapping skill is very useful, and he can never get lost. Air was flowing through those cracks and caves, so they opened out on the surface somewhere. Yoboc’s knowledge of the surface will help compare with the cave and let him know accurately how deep he is at any point. Even if the caves become too narrow for a dwarf, we can choose to widen them or perhaps just dig for the surface.

  Yoboc also used this time to strengthen my navigation skills, both by landmarks and the stars. He already knew where we were, but I was not so lucky to have a map skill. All scouts used the stars to navigate. There was one polar star, which was always stationary over the pole where the world rotates around. If I can see this star I know where north is. My Clearsight was helpful at seeing the stars through light clouds, and this improved as my skill levelled.

  I can see the huge benefits of a mapping skill. Yoboc also has the Drawing Skill, which allows him to draw his maps. There is a lot of downtime on watch, so Yoboc started teaching me to Draw, and he taught me the mental exercises for forming a bond.

  Bonds are a mental connection, and therefore, the ability is enabled by training your mind to accept different ways of thinking. Animals think very differently to people, and the more different the animal is to you, the more effort and training are required. Because I am a bear-kin, I will find it easy to form bonds with bears with very minimal training. I could have multiple bear bonds. But if I were to try to bond with a snake or a spider, I would have real trouble adjusting to the way they think. I am still not keen on a bond, but he was right in that I soon earned a point in Mental Agility.

  Drawing came easily for me. We drew in the dirt and snow and in logs of wood. I mostly used my claws. Yoboc said it was easy because it is closely related to carving, which is essentially drawing in three dimensions. I soon had drawing at the apprentice level. Yoboc, Goldie and I also had ice carving competitions to while away the hours. Carving was soon bumping up against the hump to cross over to Journeyman level. I started using my claws for the fine work. This was good practice.

  My Arctic Camouflage crossed to Journeyman on our hunting trips.

  “It is unusual to have a specialised skill like Arctic Camouflage before the general Camouflage skill,” Yoboc said.

  “Is it a problem?” I asked. “This is my home habitat.”

  “Yes, and no. You are at home out here in the snow. However, you will find the skill very limited if you try to use it in a different habitat like the cavern. If you had the general Camouflage skill, it would be useful in all areas and even better with your Lore in those areas.”

  I thought about that, and he was right. Arctic Camouflage was next to useless in the cavern. “What should I do? Should I try to learn the general skill?”

  “You could, but you don’t move around much. You probably learned Arctic Camouflage because you had Arctic Lore. Now you have the general Plant, Animal, and mineral Lore, which will help you learn the general Camouflage Skill. However, you will find it difficult to level as you are in the Arctic environment, and Arctic Lore is your highest lore. Arctic Camouflage will level rather than the general Camouflage. It is probably easier to learn a specialised Camouflage for different habitats. What do you know about the Subterranean Habitat?”

  “I have Mineral Lore, and that is about it,” I replied.

  “Use your Identify Skill and think about what you know of the cavern and the creatures that live in caves. You should get a feel for what lore is close to being recognised on your status.”

  Using Identify to look and my Lore knowledge was something new, and the skill levelled. “You've talked a lot about fungi, and that is close. The freshwater fish are special, and the small salamanders that dart around are all adapted to the lack of light and cold.”

  “The name of the Lore that concerns itself with underground species is Troglobite Lore,” Yoboc supplied.

  “Is that a dwarven name?” I asked, having never heard of it.

  “Gnomish, I believe, brought into Common by the academics.”

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  “That Lore is close, I believe,” I said.

  “Then the next time we patrol the cave and check the traps, we will see if we can push that into a skill. However, I think with it close, we can teach you some aspects of camouflage that work in the cave, and you should get Subterranean Camouflage.”

  “Will my white fur make that difficult?” I asked.

  “We can cover it, but remember, few species underground rely on eyesight as much as those on the surface. Those that have eyes often have weak eyes.”

  “Will I have to do this for each environment I am in?” I asked.

  “Yes, whereas those of us with the general Skill don’t need to do that. Some of us will specialise if we spend a long time in an area because the specialist skill is better than the general skill per level in its environment.”

  I thought about it and was not planning to leave the Arctic. It was only a camouflage skill. It was not hard to learn. All I had to do was learn a bit about the environment and then learn to hide in it.

  After a few hours of Yoboc pointing out things I didn’t know about the creatures in the cavern and me trying to hide from them, I had Subterranean Camouflage. It was soon levelling fast.

  There were other benefits from this. As I learned how the animals in the cave sensed and moved, I improved my Olfactory skills and started using Spiritual Sensing to hunt animals in the Cavern. This soon had my Spiritual Sensing knocking on the gate to the Journeyman level. Examining and learning from the insects and fungi in the cave soon meant I had learned Troglobite Lore.

  On one of our hunts, my Hunter Scavenger Class hit Journeyman Level. With two classes levelling, I was growing fast, especially in the physical area. I was finally starting to hold my own physically.

  The important thing about the Journeyman level for a class is that I now have the knowledge to specialise in something. Yoboc Specialised his Hunter Class into Scout, and he has taught me a lot of the Scout skills, but I don’t have Farsight. A specialisation is taking part of the basic class and focussing on it for it to become a specialisation class. These specialised classes come with skills. Yoboc got the Map skill from his scout specialisation.

  I used Identify, and I could feel something there, but I couldn’t sense what it was or what it needed. The Commander is a trainer, so I went to him for advice.

  “I am not going to tell you where you should specialist, Ivan,” he said. “However, I can give advice. Most people find they like one part of a class more than others. A Guard might train the axe and specialise in it. I realise it is not the Guard Class you are specialising in, but think about the Hunter Scavenger Class. What do you enjoy most?”

  I had to think about that. “I hunt for food,” I said, “but I liked poking around the Cavern looking for things too.”

  “So you like the Scavaging part of the class?” he said. I wondered if you were a born hunter; it would probably have evolved into the straight Hunter class. You like scavaging, looking for treasure, etc.”

  I nodded.

  “Scavenging is also the beginning of Treasure Hunting. To earn a specialised class like that, you will need to be able to find things. What Senses can you use?”

  “Nightsight is getting close to the master level; Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing are both close to Journeyman.”

  “That should be your first task. Get Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing to the Journeyman Level. A lot of these classes have minimum skill levels. In terms of fighting, you don’t wear armour, so you need to focus on your natural defences. Get your Tough Hide to Journeyman and your Spiritually Tough as well. I would try to focus on your Mental Strength as well, as that seems to be a theme for you. In terms of the Guard class, it is the sentries that also often specialise in strong defence. I don’t know about the Hunter Scavenger Class specialisations, but I think that is the way you should head in all your specialisations.”

  I nodded. That was good advice. My hide was always with me in either form. I did feel that getting a mental skill like my toughness was a good way to go, but I didn’t know how to do that. I remember my Mental Strength going up when I pushed myself to go beyond my limits and keep going.

  I went to find Yoboc and Goldie, “I want to level my Tough Hide. It is Early Apprentice, and I want to get it to Journeyman. How would I do that?”

  “Very painfully,” said Goldie.

  “She is right. That sort of Skill only levels when you take damage,” Yoboc said. “You have to walk a fine line taking damage but not being crippled or killed. It also helps if you take different types of damage, not just cutting or piercing, but fire, acid, ice, etc.”

  “Wouldn’t my cold resistance stop Ice damage?”

  “Cold is only one part of Ice damage. It has physical damage alongside the cold damage, just like the difference between fire and heat.” He sighed when he saw my blank look. “Fire burns and consumes, whereas heat warms something up. The two are not the same. Getting Fire Resistance will stop you from catching alight and burning or being consumed by the fire. Heat Resistance protects against all sorts of heat, one of which may come from fire.”

  “Could you help me do this and gain these resistances?”

  “No,” said Yoboc. “You are asking us to torture you, and the answer is No. I am not inflicting that pain, and I am not going to be responsible for maiming or crippling you or even your accidental death. Not happening.”

  I looked at Goldie.

  “No. You are an idiot,” she said.

  Maybe I am an idiot. I tried to put a flame to my fur and quickly decided I did not have the Mental Strength to torture myself. I am an idiot and had no idea what I was asking.

  I trained Spiritual Toughness against the small Rock Elements. I also practised tracking small insects and salamanders with my Olfactory sense.

  My problem is that my night vision is not good enough to navigate the cavern. My Spiritual Senses can track things with spiritual energy over a certain size, depending on my sensitivity and skill level. I am trying to push my sensitivity to sense smaller and smaller.

  I am starting to sense the rocks that have spiritual ores, but normal rock is invisible to my senses, and I have tripped and banged my head many a time. Other creatures traverse the caverns with weak eyesight. Why can’t I?

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