Through narrow pathways and passages, Desker led Wesley to an inconspicuous door.
'Touch the door and release your aura'
Wesley did as he was asked. The door shimmered and opened to the inside. 'Now this will be both your training and sleeping quarter, it only opens according to your aura and not some one else.' Desker explained as he led him inside, the room only had a stone bed with no other furnishing. 'This stone bed will help you in your practice. It makes your mind calm down easily' Desker said as he sat down on it and removed his mask and pulled his hood off his head.
'Wow, this guy is handsome.' thought Wesley. Desker had a square looking face with soft green eyes and long green hair that fell just to his shoulders which was tied together using a band. He looked to be in his early thirties and the only shocking thing on him was the scar that marred his face. It ran from the side of his left eye down to almost his mouth.
'Hehe, now you can see how ugly I am.' Desker smiled cheekily when he Wesley staring at the scar. Wesley looked down as he did know how to answer.
'Please sit' Desker pointed to bed. 'Refine the communication stone as I explain to you what you need to do I order to survive in this city and do not ask me about Shren.' Wesley nodded, sat down on the stone bed and using Desker's sword pricked his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the round stone. It lit up a bit and then grayed out, even with the stone grayed out, Wesley could still feel a connection with it.
'The scroll Shren gave you although just an entry technique, it will help you train your body until the bone refining stage. You have to absorb the spiritual aura around you to start tempering your body. To reach the later stages, you will need to get a better training technique'
'It is quite painful at the beginning because the aura is mottled and not pure. There are spiritual aura rooms offered by the seeker organization but you need credits to access one.' Desker continued on.
'And how can I access credits? 'Wesley asked with a frown. If he could avoid pain, he would do so. He was not a masochist.
'I was coming to that, if you have something to trade, you can go back to Shren, she will give you a good price for whatever you have'
Wesley nodded and had a thoughtful look on his face. He had something he could trade, the fruits he had been eating daily but he did want to show case them because people would start asking where he had got them.
Tresse had said that they were good for the body training stage so he had to be cautious.
When Desker saw the look on his face. He smiled and said 'don't worry I wont ask anything.' Wesley blushed with embarrassment. He realized that Desker had seen through him.
'If you don't want to trade, it is ok, you just have to wait until you are assigned to warrior team. There is a stipend given to guards every month and if you want to make more credits, you and your team will have to do sweeps and kill off as many mutant beasts as you can. The beads they leave behind after their death fetch a lot of credits especially from the seeker organization.'
And as Desker was talking, his communication stone vibrated, he removed it from his storage pouch and tapped on it.
'It seems as if every warrior has a small storage pouch.' Wesley pondered as he looked at the one tied to Desker's waist. It had a faint resemblance to the one Shren had.
'Lesly has been registered as a city guard and assigned to your group. Train him well and don't let him die.'' Shren's voice came through, she did not wait for Desker to comment and just went off.
The situation left Desker very speechless.
'So you have heard our boss, I will give you a week to get started. The week after will be for testing your level and undergoing drills with the rest of the team so that you get used to our way of fighting.'
'Our team has no name, we just call ourselves according to the warrior who came first and since I am First, you will be our Fourth brother. Welcome to the team Fourth.' Desker smiled at Wesley. Wesley could see that Desker was genuinely happy at how the situation had turned out.
'Thank you. I will strive not to let you down.' Wesley bowed in thanks.
'Alright, I will leave you to start your training and before I forget, your communication stone. It is a mouthful so we call them comms' Wesley handed his stone to him.'
'hmmm, comms. It sounds better than the long name' Wesley thought in agreement.
Desker tapped Wesley's stone with his and the stones hummed and glowed a bit.
'That is how we get other warriors information to be recorded in our comms.'
'If you want to get in touch with me just tap on the patterns, think of me and wait. The same applies if someone wants you. The stone will vibrate and you just have to tap on it.'
'My work here is done. If you have any question just tap' Desker said as he walked out. The door opened automatically for him.
'Thank you for everything Desker' Wesley thanked him as he followed him to the door. Desker just waved his hand and disappeared from his sight. The door closed and Wesley went and sat cross legged on the stone bed.
This time, he felt a difference, the stone bed was cool and soft. It was not hard as he expected. He opened up the scroll and saw a name imprinted on it.
'Snake Spirit Form Tactic"