Dawn came cold.
Jak stood in the training yard, Shade beside him. The warrior from yesterday was already there. Warming up. Sword in hand.
"You're on time," the warrior said. "Good. That's the first lesson. Punctuality keeps you alive."
"What's your name?" Jak asked.
"Marcus. B-rank warrior. Been with the guild twelve years." Marcus gestured to Jak's blade. "Draw your weapon."
Jak drew his short blade.
"Too short for your reach," Marcus said immediately. "You're tall. You need longer blade. More range."
"This is what I have."
"Then we work with what we have." Marcus moved into a fighting stance. "Attack me."
"What?"
"Attack me. Like I'm a dire wolf. Show me how you fight."
Jak hesitated. Then lunged. Blade aimed for Marcus's center mass.
Marcus sidestepped easily. Didn't even use his sword. Just moved.
"Again," Marcus said.
Jak attacked. Same result. Marcus dodged effortlessly.
"You telegraph every move," Marcus said. "Your shoulders tense before you strike. Your eyes focus on your target. Your feet shift before you commit. Everything about you screams 'I'm about to attack.'"
"How do I fix it?"
"Practice. Thousands of repetitions until your body doesn't give you away." Marcus demonstrated. His attack came from nowhere. No warning. No telegraph.
Jak barely saw it.
"But that's long-term training," Marcus continued. "Short-term? Use your beast better."
He gestured to Shade.
"Your fox is fast. Faster than you. It can move through shadows. That's your advantage." Marcus pointed to different positions around the yard. "Your beast controls space. Forces enemies into positions where you have advantage. You don't fight head-on. You fight from angles they can't cover."
Jak understood. "Shade herds them. I finish them."
"Exactly. Your beast isn't just backup. It's your primary weapon. You're the secondary." Marcus sheathed his sword. "Now let's practice positioning."
They spent three hours drilling.
Marcus would act as enemy. Jak and Shade would coordinate. At first it was clumsy. Jak couldn't predict where Shade would move. The fox couldn't predict where Jak needed openings.
But slowly, through the bond, they synchronized.
Shade would circle left. Jak knew to move right. The enemy was caught between them.
Shade would feint high. Jak would strike low. The enemy couldn't defend both.
Shade would disappear into shadow. Jak would draw attention. The enemy would focus on him. Miss Shade reappearing behind them.
"Better," Marcus said after the fiftieth drill. "You're learning. But this is basics. Real fights are messier."
"I know," Jak said. His whole body ached. "Yesterday proved that."
"Yesterday you survived. That's what matters." Marcus pulled out a contract parchment. "I'm taking a C-rank contract tomorrow. Rock troll territory dispute. Merchant road blocked. Needs clearing."
"Why tell me?"
"Because you're coming with me. You need to see how experienced adventurers work. Learn by watching." Marcus handed him the parchment. "Meet at north gate. Two hours after dawn."
Jak took the parchment. Read it. Rock trolls. C-rank threat. But Marcus was B-rank. Should be easy for him.
"Won't I just slow you down?" Jak asked.
"Probably. But you'll learn more in one real fight than a month of drilling." Marcus started walking away. "Two hours after dawn. Be there."
♢♢♢♢
Jak spent the rest of the day at the guild. Watching. Learning.
How adventurers formed parties. How they coordinated. How they divided responsibilities.
Warriors took front line. Absorbed damage. Controlled enemy movement.
Mages stayed back. Provided ranged support. Elemental attacks.
Rogues flanked. Exploited openings. High damage but fragile.
Tamers were different. They were all three roles at once. The beast handled different functions depending on its nature.
Shadow foxes were closest to rogue-type. Fast. Deadly. Fragile if caught.
That meant Jak needed to fight more like a warrior. Tank damage. Control space. Let Shade do the killing.
Opposite of how he'd been fighting.
He was thinking about this when he noticed her.
A woman. Mid-twenties. Sitting alone at a corner table. A serpent coiled around her shoulders. Scales shifting colors in the candlelight.
Another tamer.
Jak approached. Slowly. "Can I sit?"
The woman looked up. Studied him. Studied Shade. Her expression shifted. Surprised.
"You're the one who bonded the shadow fox," she said.
"I am. Jak."
"Vera." She gestured to the serpent. "Rainbow serpent bond. Been a tamer for eight years. C-rank."
"How many tamers are there?" Jak asked. "In the guild."
"Active? Maybe six. In the whole kingdom? Maybe twenty." Vera's serpent unwrapped from her shoulders. Slithered down to investigate Shade. "We're rare. Most people never meet one. You're the newest. Makes you interesting."
"How long have you been C-rank?"
"Five years."
Jak processed that. Five years in the same rank. "You haven't ranked up?"
"Most tamers don't. We plateau fast. Bond gives initial boost. Then we're stuck." Vera's expression was resigned. "I'll probably die C-rank. That's just how it works."
"Why?"
"Because bonds don't grow. Beast stays the same. Tamer stays the same. No progression path like warriors or mages have. We're static."
Jak thought about that. About how he felt different every day since bonding Shade. How his baseline kept improving.
"What if the bond can grow?" Jak asked carefully.
"Then you'd be the first." Vera stood. Her serpent returned to her shoulders. "Most of us learn to accept limitations. You're new. You still think you're special."
She walked away. Left Jak sitting alone.
Through the bond, Shade's presence. Certain. Calm.
They weren't static. Vera was wrong.
The bond was growing. Every day. Every fight.
Jak could feel it.
The question was why. Why was his bond different?
Why was Shade different?
He didn't have answers yet.
But he was starting to understand that whatever happened during their emergency bond wasn't normal.
Wasn't documented.
Wasn't understood.
And the guild had no framework for measuring it.
That was exploitable.
If Jak was careful.