Early in the morning, Gerald was already up and ready to tackle new challenges that came his way.
After a substantial breakfast, he went directly to a weapon shop to purchase a few dozen bolts for his crossbow. He didn't get anything special, just some cheap training bolts with copper arrowheads.
With his new ammunition-filled quiver at his hip and a crossbow on his back, he went directly to the backyard of the Guild to train.
The place was quite big, surrounded by a two-meter-high stone wall. There was a large circular stone-paved arena in the middle. Around it, there were workshops of many craftsmen and blacksmiths that worked for the Guild.
Near the wall on the right side were some training dummies, and on the left side were circular targets for archery and magic practice. Gerald, of course, decided to test out his crossbow on the circular targets.
To load the crossbow he first needed to pull back the string. For that, he needed to put the crossbow down on the ground and place his foot inside a metal stirrup at the end of the crossbow. After that, he had to use both hands to pull the string back and lock it in place. It was quite a strong crossbow.
The first few shots weren't that impressive. Although Gerald did hit the target, the bolts were all over the place. But that was just him getting accustomed to the new weapon.
The crossbow was not perfect and the bolts flew a few degrees to the right instead of perfectly straight. Although it wasn't a big problem at such a short distance, it could become troublesome at longer distances, especially in the forest, where the branches and trees blocked the view.
Trying to adapt to many minor inconveniences Gerald spent a few hours training and shooting the crossbow at least a few hundred times. Now his arms and back were sore from all that string-pulling and he eventually had to stop.
It was late morning and more people came to the backyard to train. Among all of them, Gerald noticed the Iron Hawk group. They also noticed Gerald and came toward him, to say hello.
"Gerald, my friend! I see you have come to train as well. It's best to get the blood flowing in the morning, don't you agree?" Iron Hawk leader Kerius spoke when they came closer.
Gerald nodded in agreement, "Definitely! I was just sharpening my archery skills a bit."
The Spellcaster interrupted their conversation and said with suspicion, "But I thought you were a mage?"
Gerald sighed at the question and said, "Of course, I would love to be a mage, but you know, Mana is a big issue and I don't have enough money to buy Elemental gems. I really don't have much choice here." He kinda laughed self-mockingly at the end.
The Iron Hawks all nodded in understanding. It was indeed hard to be a mage if you were poor. Although some of them came from good families, they didn't get any handouts. All of their weapons and armor were hard-earned throughout the years.
The Earth staff the Spellcaster used came from saving money for an entire year by the whole team. It was a good staff and it only cost ten gold coins, but that money was earned with sweat, blood, and hard work.
They were chatting for a while and Gerald got to know these guys better. The two big vanguard guys were twins, and also Kerius's cousins. Their names were Armaz and Ermaz. Looking at them without the helmet, Gerald saw they indeed looked almost the same, and he couldn't really tell the difference.
The Spellcaster was a scrawny guy called Eneth and he could already cast medium-grade spells, although not many.
The Archer was named Hawkin and the Hunter introduced himself with a nickname Cameleon. They both didn't talk much.
After the introductions and small talk were over, Gerald focused his attention on the Iron Hawk twins. He asked, "I have a question for you two that has been bugging me for a while…"
"Ask away…" answered Armaz.
Gerald nodded and thought for a while about how to express himself and then said, "When the Gobling attacked one of you from behind, you did something to block him, right? What was that?"
Armaz and Ermaz both looked at Kerius and whispered something, after a while they all came to an agreement. Ermaz said, "What you are referring to it's our family's, Combat Art. It's called Unmoving Boulder and it is supposed to make your body as hard as a rock and be impervious to any weapon," he explained. It was a bit of exaggeration, but the hope remained.
"What! That's an amazing ability! Please teach me!"Gerald was so excited that he almost wanted to jump.
Unfortunately, he got quickly turned down by Kerius, "I'm sorry Gerald, but the Unmoving Boulder Combat Art is only for our family members to learn. We are forbidden from teaching it to outsiders."
"Realy? What if I pay you?" asked Gerald.
The others quickly shook their head which made Gerald frown. Such a good ability was right in front of him, but he just couldn't get it.
The Spellcaster Eneth quickly dispelled the awkward situation as he changed the topic and said, "Brother Gerald, I have seen you casting an interesting Earth spell the other day…"
"Oh, you mean my Stone Bolts?" Gerald asked in surprise. He really did not expect him to bring up this topic. Then again, he was also a mage so it made sense he was interested.
Eneth's eyes enlarged in excitement as he said, "Is that what they are called? It's a good name. I was just wondering if I might be able to see them again? If you don't mind."
Gerald rubbed his nose ad said, "Sure, why not. I can demonstrate it to you." Then he looked around and continued, "But not here. Let's go outside. I don't want to be responsible for breaking the arena."
The other guys around him laughed and said, "Yes, of course, we can't make the Guild Master mad."
"That's right, we can't be reckless."
"There's a lot of free space to the south of the city, we can go there."
"Good idea, let's go there."
"Yes, let's…"