They continued practicing misdirection. Jester excelled here. Often coming up with small, unexpected verbal cues. Or subtle body movements that drew attention away from his true handiwork.
Finn improved by using his clumsiness for distraction. While Sunny developed a knack for using eye contact and facial expression to redirect target's attention.
"This skill is often used for crime." Mr. Husher reminded them. "But, it's not the skill that does the crime. It's the person. Don't blame the skill for a crime a person does."
He continued. "Rogue should excel in misdirection. To make someone look left when the danger is coming from the right. To make them believe a trap isn't there. Or to make them unaware that they've shown flaws."
Mr. Husher finished with another reminder. "How can you excel in this? Practice. Always practice. Every day."
...
The next class was 'Perception & Insight Training'.
They moved to a different classroom. Brighter and filled with various everyday objects. Mr. Viper, the kind old man who taught 'Poisons & Antidotes', was waiting for them.
Mr. Viper had a gentle demeanor. With thick spectacles perched on his nose. And a kindly smile. His white hair was neatly combed. And he wore a comfortable cardigan. He seemed the polar opposite of Mr. Husher. Yet, both were masters of their craft.
"Welcome, welcome!" Mr. Viper said. His voice was soft and warm.
He went directly to the lesson introduction. "Today, we sharpen the mind's eye. The rogue's greatest tool."
He smiled. "Yes. Our greatest tool is not our blade, but our awareness. Detecting deception. Recognizing patterns. Finding what is hidden. These are the cornerstones of survival and success of a rogue."
He gestured to the room. It appeared to be a standard classroom, but Jester immediately noticed subtle irregularities. A book slightly out of place on a shelf. A faint scuff mark on the otherwise pristine floor. A chair angled slightly differently from the others.
"Your first task..." Mr. Viper said. "... is simple observation. I want you to spend the next ten minutes examining this room. After that, I will ask you to list everything out of the ordinary. Everything that doesn't quite fit."
Jester, Finn, and Sunny dispersed. Scrutinizing the room.
Jester approached the task systematically. He started from the door. Moving clockwise around the room. He focused on textures, colors, and arrangements.
He took notes of the book, the scuff mark, the chair. He also noticed a faint, almost invisible scratch on the whiteboard. Not a natural one. But one that seemed deliberately made. A small piece of lint on the teacher's desk that was unusually bright. A faint, almost imperceptible tremor in one of the windowpanes.
After ten minutes, they reconvened. "Mr. Eventide!" Mr. Viper began. "Your observations?"
"The red book on the third shelf is upside down." Jester began. "There's a scuff mark near the back right corner of the room. Distinct from general wear. A chair in the second row is rotated five degrees off alignment. A small, bright green tuft of lint on your desk, Sir. And a faint, circular scratch on the lower left corner of the whiteboard."
He even added. "The breeze from the window causes a slight, rhythmic vibration in the glass, though it's barely perceptible."
Mr. Viper nodded slowly. Impressed. "Excellent, Jester. Most of those are correct. The vibrating windowpane is quite advanced."
Finn listed some of the more obvious discrepancies, like the book and the chair. Sunny noted the lint and a pen that was not quite centered on a desk.
Mr. Viper smiled. "Excellent start, gentlemen! For visual observation. But observation should be more than just using your eyes."
He moved calmly and knocked two different parts of the wall. Different sound. "Don't just look. Touch and listen too."
Jester's eyes widen in realization. Right! He had five senses. And he only used one of them to observe. He under-utilized his other senses.
Mr. Viper walked to a flower vase in the corner. "And smell. Or... in this case, the opposite. This flower is suspicious because it has no smell."
He smiled again. "And of course, taste. But this one would be for later lessons. It is more... risky after all. Remember our class for poisons and antidotes?"
The three students shuddered. That was right. Risky. Very risky.
"Observation is the first step." Mr. Viper continued. "Pattern recognition is the second. The world is full of patterns. Break them, and you find the anomalies."
For the next exercise, Mr. Viper presented them with a series of short, recorded videos. They were tasked with identifying inconsistencies. Verbal tics. Or subtle body language cues that indicated deception.
The recordings showed two individuals engaging in mundane small talk. One was lying. Their job was to identify the liar and explain why.
The first recording played. A man spoke about his weekend outing. His story sounded perfectly normal.
Jester, however, focused on the micro-expressions. A slight hesitation before answering a question about a specific detail. A subtle shift of eyes to the left when recalling a 'memory' that should have been processed from the right. A quick, almost imperceptible twitch of his left hand when he mentioned a specific object.
"The man in the blue shirt." Jester stated confidently. "He hesitated for half a second when asked about the color of the car. His eyes drifted left for a moment. And his left hand made a short, jerky movement when he mentioned the 'big catch' he supposedly made."
Mr. Viper smiled warmly. "Precisely, Mr. Eventide. The most common clues often go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Our brains are wired to fill in gaps, to believe what we want to believe. A rogue must override that instinct."
Finn identified the liar on the second recording. By spotting an inconsistency in their timeline. Sunny caught a woman repeatedly touching her neck. A subconscious gesture often linked to discomfort or deceit.
They were learning to look beyond the surface. To question the narrative.
"Finally..." Mr. Viper said. "... insight. To not just see what is different, but to understand why. To predict the intent."
He then showed them a series of images. Photographs of various scenes. A busy street. A quiet alley. A cluttered workshop.
For each image, they had to identify potential threats. The hidden elements. Or likely points of interest for a rogue.
The busy street scene... Finn pointed out potential pickpocketing opportunities. Sunny noted a blind spot in the camera's view that an assassin might use.
Jester looked at the arrangement of stalls. The flow of people. And the position of a lone, seemingly innocent fruit vendor.
"That fruit vendor!" Jester pointed out. "His stall is placed to give him a clear view down three different avenues. He's not watching customers. He's watching the street. His hands seem to be too clean for a fruit vendor. And the way he leans, slightly forward, suggests he's ready to move at a moment's notice. Possible lookout or information broker."
Mr. Viper's smile broadened. "Mr. Eventide, your deductions are becoming remarkably sharp. Indeed, that vendor, in the scenario this image was taken for, was a low-level informant. Your ability to connect observed details to potential intent is exactly what a high-level rogue needs."
The class concluded with Mr. Viper emphasizing the importance of constantly observing, questioning, and analyzing.
"The world is full of hidden truths, for those with the patience and insight to uncover them. Never stop looking."
Jester left the classroom feeling a surge of competence. These skills, combined with his Toonworld abilities, were beginning to form a cohesive, powerful toolkit. He was not just a normal student anymore. He was slowly becoming a true rogue.
...
After the class concluded, Jester walked the familiar path home.
The afternoon sun was warm on his face. But his mind buzzed with the day's lessons. Mr. Viper's insights into observation had sharpened his perception.
He felt the world around him with new clarity. Noticing details he had previously ignored. The slightly uneven gait of an elderly woman. The subtle nervous twitch of a street vendor. The way pigeons scattered a second before a child's ball bounced near them.
He reached his small house, just in time. As a delivery truck idled outside. Two burly men were carefully unloading several large boxes. His new computer set had arrived.
Jester signed the delivery receipt. Directed them to his bedroom. And supervised the placement of the heavy equipment. Once they left, he set about assembling it.
The process was straightforward. A familiar dance of cables and connectors from his past life. Well, it was slightly different. But nothing he couldn't handle.
Within an hour, a gleaming monitor and CPU sat prominently on his desk. Ready to be used. He immediately turned it on.
As the computer was booting up, he retrieved the [Toon Camera Recorder] from his system inventory. He located the appropriate port on the computer tower and connected the camera. Luckily, although it was now a toon object, it could still be connected.
Not long after, files from the recorder streamed across the hard drive. It took almost half an hour to transfer the files. Computer speed limitation. Not exactly... efficient.
Jester sighed. Wishing he had another [Toon Gear] to be fused with the computer.
Once the transfer was complete, Jester disconnected the camera. And put it aside. The [Toon Camera Recorder] began to hum quietly and self connected to a plug. Its indicator light shifting from green to a soft amber. Signifying its self-recharging mode.
Jester sat back. Took a deep breath. And opened the video files.
The footage was stunning. The [Toon Camera Recorder] had indeed acted like an invisible cameraman. Capturing dynamic angles. Perfect close-ups. And sweeping wide shots of the North Dungeon's first and second floor. The vibrant colors of Toonworld practically leaped off the screen.
He watched through the entire sequence. Making mental notes. The quality was undeniable. It was raw, exciting, full of slapstick encounters and tense moments.
But as he finished, a critical eye took over. The recording had potential content indeed. But, to be a compelling watch, it needed more.
A clear story arc was missing. A narrative thread to tie the disparate adventures together. And the silence was deafening. Background music would be essential. Setting the mood for exploration, combat, and comedic timing.
He could construct the storyline. He thought. That was a matter of clever editing and perhaps a voiceover. But music… that was a different skill set entirely.
He couldn't do it. But, his best friend Vale could. He was a genius musician after all. And like him, he would want his work to be known. He would need his help.
Then, a sobering thought struck him. The world of Sherra... This wasn't Earth in the 2020s.
There was no YouTube, no TikTok. Short, viral videos weren't a concept here yet. Cell phones were still a luxury. To be published, to truly make an impact, he couldn't just upload a ten-minute highlight reel.
People expected substantial content. A full two-hour feature film. Or perhaps a serialized adventure. Each episode an hour long. This project was suddenly much bigger than just sharing cool footage.
It was about defining a new medium. In a world that wasn't quite ready for it.