Stealthing to The Max!

Drew grasped a small crevice in the wall and hoisted himself a few feet onto the wall and found that his body had a grip strength that he had underestimated. In addition to that, he seemed to be able to control his body perfectly as he scaled the wall in a matter of seconds.

'That was easier than expected...' Drew thought as he maintained stealth and continued forward through uncharted territory.

But something quickly grabbed his attention after dropping from the wall and he couldn't help but smile in response to the find he had made.

There was a simple stone-carved outline in the wall he had just climbed over.

'A secret entrance... sneaky bastards,'

His surroundings had changed drastically compared to the stone streets that had previously occupied his view.

Instead of packed buildings, he found himself in some sort of man-made meadow that had all sorts of strange herbs planted in grow beds that seemed to be in excellent shape.

Drew stared at the strange flowers and plants with interest but shook his head at the thought of taking some.

'I really don't want to make more trouble with the church...'

He walked through the gated meadow and found that he could see a large pavilion of sorts that was a straight shot into the church itself.

A few young nuns and priests were cleaning it in an incredibly methodical manner and took great care to make that everything was spotless.

Drew stepped into some nearby foliage and watched them do their work intently. It wasn't long before they had finished the brunt of their work and after doing so they seemed quite chatty as the three nuns began to gossip about the happenings within the church and the city.

"Have you heard that Cardinal Folley is making an appearance at this year's Grand Remembrance?" The youngest of the nuns said with a bright smile on her face.

A Nun that seemed to be in her late 60s frowned at the young girl's statement before shaking her head sternly.

"How can such a blessed man trouble himself with this small and humble church of ours?" She said with a nagging tone. "Since he is the newest of the Cardinals he should be taking over the ceremony in Newcourt, as is tradition,"

The middle-aged woman nodded in agreement as she folded a rather large linen cloth and placed it gently on a long dining table that was placed in the center of the small patio.

"But I do believe that he may be here in the days prior," The old Nun said in a wise voice.

The young lady perked up and had eyes that pleaded for answers, which the Old Nun relished and answered once more.

"I hear it has to deal with that hooligan that desecrated The Grand Gate of Creation," She whispered as if speaking of something that was taboo.

The two other Nuns looked shocked at this Old Nun's statement and looked around them as if checking if anyone was listening in to them.

They quickly turned the conversation to a more hushed tone and Drew realized that he had tapped out the information he could gain from them.

'Hmm... A Cardinal should be a rather strong mage. It might be troublesome if I am in his presence though I have a sinking suspicion that he is probably a part of the problems that have come Atun's way,' Drew thought as he ducked underneath a small altar and snuck by the priests who remained silent.

Drew watched them for any sort of sign of them perceiving him and nearly froze in shock as one of the priests that wore a white robe with a golden streak blazing across it glanced at him with a knowing look on his face.

He quickly motioned towards the priest that was closest to Drew and began to speak in a quick tone as if to distract the man from Drew's presence.

"Father Geralt, what is the matter?" The naive priest said as he bowed towards his elder respectfully.

The man with the golden streaked robe lowered his head and revealed a young and youthful face that had a charm to it that would have been hard to find on earth.

He smiled warmly at the priest in front of him and let out a low laugh that was almost like ringing bells.

"I just wanted to ask my Junior how they are progressing in their studies!" He said in a joyous voice as he made a small hand motion towards Drew as if to motion him to move along.

Drew took the queue and crouched down low and walked behind the clueless priest. He let out a sigh of relief as he stepped into a narrow corridor that seemed rather vacant compared to the bustling patio he had just escaped from.

"It seems as if not everyone has it out for me in the Church of Bram..." Drew muttered with a conflicted expression evident on his face.

"Maybe Atun didn't mean any harm when he put the bounty on my head... Perhaps his hand was forced,"

Drew shook his head gently and focused on the task at hand, there was no telling when someone might wander down this vacant corridor.

He made his way down the narrow and winding hallway and found a row of doors that all looked untouched compared to the parts of the church he had been to during his previous short stay.

"Strange... Perhaps a forbidden zone of sorts?" Drew guessed as he gently tried one of the doors to find that it was locked. He moved to another, and another but found that all of them were locked and didn't budge when he applied pressure to their old frames.

'Reinforced with magic?' Drew questioned as he saw a flash of light appear on the door he tried to force open.

"Interesting..."

He made his way further into the church and found that he quickly came across a door that was not locked which was even more intriguing.

The door was lined up just like the previous ones but it opened smoothly as he tested the handle. Drew carefully peaked through the small slit he had opened and examined the room before quickly entering it and closing the door behind him.

The room was rather small and seemed to be some sort of living quarters for the young priests and nuns that lived within the church.

It reminded him of the room he stayed in during his time here albeit a little smaller and less furnished. He scoured the room for any belongings but found that it was empty except for a bed frame that did not even have a mattress or sleeping roll on it.

"It's vacant... how lucky," Drew said in a happy tone as he realized he might be able to hide out in this room during busy periods so that he could avoid the masses of the church and might even be able to use the space as a temporary base during his short stay here.

He stretched lightly and placed his pack underneath the bed frame and took a small rest as he ate some jerky from an unknown creature and drank some water he got from a running river that passed through the forest.

After finishing the meager meal he sighed with contentment and put up his supplies while trying to mentally map out the church he had been through as of now.

He recalled that there were a few larger passageways that were connected to the patio he had been in moments before but it would be risky to go into more populated areas of the church.

'I suppose I could wait until night...' Drew pondered as he realized it would probably be his best bet in his current situation since he had not seen many churches lining the walls during his time here so far.

Drew closed his eyes after confirming his plan and began to practice a skill he had been training in his free time.

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Focus: Lv: 1:

Requirements to learn: You must meditate for a total of 10 hours without losing focus(One session).

Training Regimen: Try to meditate a few hours each day and focus constantly on calming your thoughts and not letting your thoughts escape your main goal or true focus.

The estimated amount of time to learn this skill: At least 1 week to get the hold on basic meditation and up to 3 weeks to achieve a general state of peace. Further time depends on the user's mental state and luck.

Description: Increases composure and mental resistance. Also allows the user to increase their combat power while fighting someone who has a lower level focus than the user.

Flaws: Requires a high mental capacity to learn and a calm environment to learn. Advanced levels can require the user to spend months in solitary confinement and in prolonged states of meditation. This is the precursor skill to the monk skill Meditation and most of the basic monk branch of skills.

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It was a very useful skill and didn't take much time away from his physical training as he could do it while resting and recovering his stamina.

He found that time was also strangely dilated while he entered the state of meditation and he could sit unmoving while hours passed by in a blink of an eye.

Though he had learned the basics of the meditation aspect of the skill he still found his concentration being broken by phantom noises that seemed intent on interrupting his thoughts.

He found his mind drifting as hours passed and the moon had risen into the sky.