Ian reviewed his notes for the dozenth time as he stood at the lectern. He took the information in again but couldn’t keep his mind from wandering.
He had spent most of Thursday and Friday in the goblin dungeon, growing more comfortable with his newfound strength while managing to boost his level to 327. He hadn’t moved past the third floor, but he knew it was time to move on. The last run had highlighted a steep decline in his leveling rate during the last few hours of the dive. His mind kept waffling back and forth between efficiency and safety.
“I should be happy with hitting 327 already,” Ian mumbled as his mind switched gears.
His sister’s trip had been delayed, and her arrival had been pushed back to late last night. The prospect of seeing her again was causing him no shortage of anxiety. His mind looped between ensuring she was safe and doubting she wanted to see him again—despite Claire’s reassurance that he was being silly. Just because he believed she was right didn’t make his irrational fears pack themselves up and go home.
During his nightly meal with Claire, Jen had texted him to ask if he wanted to assist her in teaching the introduction course. When he asked Claire about it, she told him he was going to need to teach a few of the classes eventually and might as well learn from a good instructor. He also knew that she had hoped it would get his mind off his worries, which he had to admit had been the right move.
“Good morning, Zero,” came a familiar voice from the door.
Ian looked up to see the elven features of Jen’s Glade Runner disguise smiling at him as she entered the room.
“Morning, Glade. How has the week been treating you?”
“Fantastic. I just did my last shift at my old job yesterday,” she said before pausing and giving him a knowing look, “and now I am completely switched over to adventuring full time.”
“Congratulations on making the switch, though I am surprised to see you teaching again.”
Jen gave him a smile as she started pulling her teaching supplies out of her item storage.
“The adventurer originally signed up for this class got injured in the dungeon, and it is going to take a few days to get her leg completely patched up. Keeper Withers heard about it, and she reached out to see if I would be willing to teach on short notice. When I heard the little sister of a friend of mine is supposed to be attending, I decided she could use a friendly face who understands her struggles.”
“I’m sure your friend greatly appreciates everything you have done for them.”
As Ian watched, Jen looked up and smiled through her green hair before turning around and writing her alias on the whiteboard.
“It also helps that she is amazing at archery, and I would love to see how she does on the range later this afternoon. I have skills that help me, but I’ve seen her clips from the national competitions. She does things without any extra assistance that I can barely do now. With her talent, she could become one of the best archers currently diving if given the right support and opportunity to grow.”
Ian nodded. Claire had explained that many of the archery based passive skills gave increased accuracy and perception, but they were all based on the natural abilities of the user. His sister’s baseline was so much higher than his that he would never match her, even if they both selected the same archery skills.
The sound of muffled voices cut off his inner musings. Looking at the door, he watched as a female receptionist walked into the room, followed by nearly a dozen people.
“Please move to take a seat in the first two rows,” the woman said upon seeing Ian and Jen. “This is going to be your classroom for the day. Afterwards, your instructors will show you the campus and answer any questions you may have.”
As they entered and moved to sit down, Ian noticed the entire class was comprised of women. Their clothes were worn, and many of them had a gauntness to their features that he knew came from being on the verge of starvation.
His breath caught when his sister came into the room at the end of the line. Despite looking like she needed to eat a good meal or twenty, there was still a fire in her eyes as she took in the room. Ian had to stop himself from breathing out a sigh of relief. If she was looking for a fight, then he knew her spirit hadn’t been broken. However, it didn’t escape his attention that she sat down at the end of the second row with a couple of seats between her and her closest classmate.
“Good morning, everyone. My name is Glade Runner, and I will be your primary lecturer for today’s introductory course. This course covers some basics as well as taking the time to show you around the campus. Your real instruction on adventuring will begin next week or weekend, depending on which class you are placed in after your evaluations.
“We are also lucky to have another adventurer here today. If you have seen the news recently or pay attention to the adventurer media sites, you have probably seen his pictures or heard his name—some of you have even probably watched his streams. Zero has volunteered to assist this class, so please feel free to ask him questions when we have time available.”
Ian waved, which caused many of the women to murmur to their neighbors. His sister just stared at him for a moment before looking back at the board Jen had turned to write on.
“Alright, ladies,” Jen said, calling everyone’s attention to her. “This morning we will go over the importance of adventuring, the basics of leveling, and the support services offered by the AO. After we break for lunch, we will head out to the training center and see about getting everyone evaluated.
“We’ll start with why adventuring is—”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
*~*~*
The class had gone similar to how Ian remembered it. Unlike his course, however, there was a much larger focus on what benefits and support services the AO offered the women of the class. They were all from an outreach program and would be living within the AO compound for the foreseeable future. He was impressed by how Jen adjusted the course to suit the needs of the class itself instead of sticking to the normal talking points.
“Alright, we have around half an hour until it is time for us to head over to the cafeteria,” Jen said as she looked around the room. “Please let me know if you have any questions.”
As the women in the room began talking quietly among themselves, Claire walked into the back of the room.
“Keeper Withers, is there something we can help you with?” Jen asked.
“Good morning, Adventurer Glade Runner. I was wondering if I could speak with Miss Spelling for a moment?”
Jen motioned towards Ashlyn, “She is all yours. We are actually finished with the morning lecture and are just killing time before lunch.”
“Thank you.”
Ian watched as Claire went to quietly speak with his sister. After a few moments, Ashlyn nodded, and Claire looked down towards Ian.
“Zero, would you be able to escort Miss Spelling to my office this afternoon?”
“Of course,” Ian replied.
As Claire left the room, a murmur started up. After a moment, a young woman asked a question.
“What is a Keeper’s role?”
Jen looked over at Ian, “You want to take this one, since you have a dedicated Keeper?”
“Sure,” Ian said, turning to the young woman. “Keepers are specialized administrators within the AO. They help adventurers or teams based on their individual needs. Their job, put simply, is to perform the tasks that prevent adventurers from focusing on the dungeons and assist them with planning their dives. They also assist by helping connect adventurers to form parties upon request.”
“Does that mean all adventurers have a Keeper?” the young woman asked, clearly interested.
“Yes and no,” Jen cut in. “Every adventurer has access to a Keeper, but very few adventurers have ones who are solely dedicated to them or their party. Up until yesterday, my party was only a part-time adventuring group, which means we didn’t qualify for a dedicated Keeper. Instead, we usually request a meeting with a Keeper about once a month. They help us figure out areas we could improve, skills to work towards, and which dungeons would be the most suitable for our party’s makeup.”
Jen nodded towards Ian, and everyone’s attention shifted.
“I’m on the opposite side of the coin. I’m lucky enough to have a dedicated Keeper. Besides the benefits that were already mentioned, my Keeper is much more involved in my day-to-day affairs. Our partnership is very new, but she is almost run ragged just handling the deluge of requests for meetings and interviews. She is also hard at work handling aspects of my social media presence and public information. Her efforts are indispensable for my future, especially as I wouldn’t be nearly as patient with the constant requests she gets from clans and news stations. I’d honestly be in a lot of trouble by now on my own.”
Some of the women smiled, but the original young woman glanced at his sister before asking, “Then why would a Keeper want to meet with Ashlyn?”
Ashlyn turned to look at the other woman, as she made eye contact, her frown softened, “Denice, you could have just asked. Regardless of what you might think, I don’t hold any ill will towards you or the others who don’t believe me. I even understand why you would be doubtful.
“But to answer your question, Keeper Withers reached out to me about joining a new team. I have been told they are very interested in my archery skills, and my opinions won’t be a problem for them.”
Ian watched his sister nod before turning away from Denice to stare out the window. When he looked at the woman closely, he could see the signs of healing bruises around her eyes and on her neck. Looking around closer, he saw that a few of the other women showed similar bruises—all of whom gave his sister frustrated looks.
“But they have to know that your stubborn insistence about your brother is going to cause issues with others, right?” said the woman next to Denice. “Even if what you have been saying is true, Peerless would apparently just step in and make any party you join miserable.”
Ashlyn just shrugged and continued looking out the window.
Jen cleared her throat, “I understand why you are all upset, and even understand some of the things you are all dealing with far more intimately than I would care to admit. Honestly, I spent my first year in the AO under a very similar program that you are all in. You will find many adventurers, and even a few of the Keepers, started out where you are currently sitting.
“I know it is difficult to believe, and I definitely don’t want to make light of anything that happened to any of you, but I have known her brother for a long time, and he is not the abuser many think he is.”
“It’s easy for abusive men to hide what they do from others,” the woman replied with a frown.
“You are definitely not wrong about that,” Jen said with a pained look on her face.
“Besides, if he wasn’t guilty, why did he go into hiding instead of fighting it?”
“Can I ask a question?” Ian cut in. “Is there anything that would have made you take his word over Avra’s?”
“Is there any proof he didn’t do it?” asked one of the women in the second row.
Ian had to bite his tongue to stop himself from talking about the investigations. Claire had mentioned that he should keep them under wraps until he decided on which path he wanted to take with them. Luckily, Jen came to his rescue.
“If you need proof, Ian still has his adventurer’s license,” Jen said after a second.
“Why would him having his adventurer’s license mean anything?” Asked another woman.
“It has to do with the Adventurer’s Code of Conduct, which is mandatory reading for all new adventurers,” Jen answered. “The dungeon system has its own set of internal rules that are enforced by the Curator. They are there to ensure that individuals who are gaining strength from the dungeons are not an immediate danger to others. Kind of a universal moral standard for adventurers. There are certain limitations, though, as it leaves certain aspects of morality up to the civilization of that world.
“For example, cheating on Avra wouldn’t have gotten his license revoked. The system doesn’t involve itself in consensual sexual matters, as those laws are made by the society the adventurer is from. However, physically or sexually assaulting someone is against the Adventurer’s Code of Conduct, and Avra claimed he physically assaulted her the night before she broke up with him. She had her drone for over a month at that point, which should have caused the curator to immediately terminate his access to all the dungeons while notifying the AO and authorities.”
While it was obvious the women weren’t completely convinced, a couple of them now had looks on their faces that Ian took as them considering Jen’s words. One of the women even nodded a bit.
“Nobody has reported seeing him in over a year, so maybe he is in jail?” said one of the skeptical women.
Ian and Jen looked at each other. Ian just shrugged and turned to the woman.
“Actually, I’m certain he ran a dungeon just yesterday. After being attacked by angry fans and hospitalized multiple times, he’s learned to keep a low profile for his safety.”
The chime indicated it was time for lunch.
“Sorry to cut this short, but it’s time for everyone to head over to the cafeteria. For those of you who are skeptical of a cafeteria, you are in for a treat.”
Ian looked up to see Ashlyn staring at him. She stayed seated as all the other women trooped out of the room with Jen. When Jen popped her head back in, Ian just waved her on.
“So, you know my brother,” Ashlyn stated before asking, “Is he doing well?”
“He really is,” Ian said after a moment. “But we shouldn’t talk about Ian without being in a secure room. Let’s get you to lunch and get your evaluations done so we can take you to your meeting. Keeper’s rooms are all designed with secure communication in mind.
“I’ll even explain the evaluation process while we eat.”
