For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

9. Gearing Up

No one's POV:

In the morning, Alec was awakened by the sound of birds and talking coming from outside his window as the sunlight crept its way into his room. By the time it reached his bed, he woke up and yawned heavily. At first, he didn't realize where he was, but then he remembered that he wasn't at home, or rather on Earth, anymore. He was in World Zero and would be spending most of his time here. To him, it still felt a little surreal to say that out loud.

After getting dressed, throwing on a T-shirt and some pants that his mom packed for him in his suitcase, he lightly combed through his hair with his fingers as he went outside (not before making sure to take his scroll first), looking out for his paladin mentor. From what Cal told him yesterday, breakfast was being served at the tavern, where he will meet him to talk business. Seeing many of the other Tier Ones head that way, Alec followed the crowd into the tavern. And sure enough, as soon as he went inside, he spotted Cal sitting at one of the tables, reading what looked to be his own scroll of quests he had to complete. Alec walked towards him, and when Cal noticed him, he flashed him a kind smile as he sat down on the other side of him.

"Good morning, kiddo!" he greeted. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good," he said. While it was partially the truth, it took a while before Alec could finally get to sleep. He still felt a little weary at the thought of being away from home.

"That's good to hear," Cal said. "I ordered you some breakfast before you got here. Is that okay?"

'Just as long as it's edible,' Alec thought to himself.

"Good. All we need to get you some armor and a sword, then we're good to go. Oh, your order's coming."

Alec lifted his gaze as a waitress came over to the table, holding a plate and a cup in her hands. Alec silently prayed that it looked appetizing, at least more than the meal he had yesterday with Sean. Fortunately, as his breakfast was placed before him, he felt relieved. It looked like toasted flatbread with some strawberry jam and toppings on it, with a side of vine fruit and a glass of milk.

Alec knew who he was going to eat out with more often now.

Picking up his silverware he began to eat, his taste buds dancing in his mouth. As he got busy on his plate, he lifted his gaze to Cal, who was still studying his quests. With a mouth full of food, Alec asked, "What are you doing?"

Cal looked up before saying, "Oh, I'm looking at my quests."

"I know," Alec said. "I was just wondering if you were going to eat or not."

Cal shook his head. "Nah. I've already eaten."

"Let me guess, in World 3?" Cal left when he dropped Alec off at the dormitories, once they found a room he could settle in for the time being. Based on how much Sean mentioned the world, he could only guess that that was where Cal was located.

"Yeh, but I came here to eat. It gets old being in a snowy biome for a while, you know?"

Alec didn't know but pretended to.

Once he got done with his breakfast, Alec went with Cal to the blacksmith to get his armor. There were some other first classes there, too, waiting with their mentors for their armor to get done. After a while of waiting, Alec was handed his armor, and Cal took it aside to help him put it on. Slipping the under armor on and pulling a blue tunic over his head, he strapped on his brown breastplate, shoulder pads, and arm guards, then strapped his boots on his feet. It felt a little uncomfortable at first, but at least it wasn't that tight or loose on him, surprisingly.  

After clipping his belts, making sure that everything was in place, Cal stepped back long enough to get the full picture of Alec. "Looks good! Does it fit okay?"

Alec moved his arms and legs around, trying to get a feel of this new suit. "Yeah. But it feels kinda weird." 

"It'll take some getting used to for sure," Cal mentioned. "Let's go get your sword, and then we'll hit the road."

Alec's eyes widened, his heart nearly skipping a beat. "How far are we going?"

"Not too far. See those rocks up ahead?"

Cal pointed to the field. Now that it was daylight, Alec could see what exactly was out there waiting for him. They were big animals that looked like gray wolves, only they had a longer snouts with sharp tusks. They appeared to be lowered to the ground, too, not standing tall and straight as normal wolves did. Following the path with his eyes, Alec spotted the rock towers that Cal was talking about, right next to the tunnel leading further into the island.

"We'll stay in this part for now," Cal explained, starting to walk back to the blacksmith's shop. "Until you can show me that you're ready to move on. Let's see your quests." 

Alec handed Cal his scroll, and as the paladin skimmed through the tasks, Alec turned to look back at the wolf hybrids grazing about in the field. Rolling the scroll until it was tightly closed, he gave it back to Alec before reaching over the counter towards the blacksmith, requesting a sword. Once it was received, Cal nodded to her before walking Alec over to the three scarecrows aligned against the wall. He smirked. "I bet you can guess what these are, right?" 

Alec looked at the red and white bullseyes with markings and scratches. "They're for target practice, right?" 

"Exactly. First things first, I want to see how strong you are. If you've trained enough with your instructor, you should already know the basics of wielding a sword. You've taken and passed all of your courses with your instructor before coming here, yes?" 

Alec confirmed. Handing Alec the sword, Cal took a couple of steps back. "Okay. Whenever you're ready, start from right to left. Take your time, and be careful." 

Feeling the handle in his grasp, and repositioning it in his hand, Alec tried to think back about what he learned when he was in class. As he stood for a while, Cal said from behind him, "Maybe you should try it out first? To make sure it works?" 

Alec had to resist rolling his eyes. How were you supposed to make a sword "work?" You just do the action and the blade follows with it. But, alas, staring at his own, big-eyed reflection in his sword, he took a step towards the scarecrow and began slashing at it, some bits and strands of straw flying off. Only there was something different that was happening; a blue light came from his sword whenever he made a move. 'Was that supposed to happen?' he asked himself. 

"Good," Cal commented. "What else do you know?" 

Alec thought for a moment. He remembered learning about the areas that you should aim for when in a duel against somebody. He tried that, and some more pieces of straw went flying.

"That's good that you know the sensitive parts of the body, Alec," Cal said. "Anything else?"  

Well, there was one thing that he'd been wanting to try for a while. Alec's only tried it once with his instructor, but he wanted to take a go at it. Studying the center of the target, straightening his sword, he took a deep breath. Then, just as he was about to leap towards the scarecrow at full force, about to pierce his blade through it mid-center, a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Alec!" it said. "Good morning!" 

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[Word Count: 1316 words]