If I had been told that my life would come full-circle in ten years' time, I would not have believed it. But here I am, back at Cabotton University.

At first, I did not want to be here. I wanted to leave the past behind. But honestly, Three Points would simply not give me the opportunity to field-write. I was stuck as an editor with them since I started there.

But Josh Marquin called me again. I hated him back during my short time at Cabotton University. He had been my biggest fan, much to the point of being excessive. I parted ways with him when I left the University, but I have been talking to him over the last couple years. Though he has calmed down a bit since the past, he was still annoying. And I was initially annoyed with him when he called me yesterday to come back out to Cabotton University to do an independent field interview on something happening with Arturian Realm.

I simply thought Josh was trying to coax me into going back into the past, so to speak, but when he mentioned that I could write an independent article and propose it to Three Points for publication...well...I could not think of a better idea.

So I have spent most of my day at Cabotton University, primarily in the Third Level Society, where I learned that a bunch of Members have been leaving due to the Arturian Realm being "compromised." I met with Rose Anne Mahathy, who gave me insight on an apparent Golden Empire having taken over the entire sector of Marlen as well as Prestia Minor LVIII, Prestia Minor LV, and Prestia Minor LIV. This had her concerned initially because of the proximity of the effected regions to her cosmic blockworld: Mahathia.

Mahathia is a geocentric planetary system consisting of a warm sun orbiting around a temperate planet. At the edge of space in this blockworld system are built two jump gates on each side, one leading to the Prestia Major XI Planetary System within the Lux Prestia II Star System and one leading to the Galacia Major XIV Planetary System within the Lux Galacia III Star System. Both said systems consist each of a major trade hub. So having Mahathia serving as a crossroads here would have been ideal.

When Rose Anne caught wind of the issue with the Gold Empire, though, she realized that there would be an issue, for Prestia Major XI was one of the systems affected. And the stakes are high with this, right now, because the Gold Empire is known to kill off avatars in a way that somehow renders them unable to be resurrected, thus making it so that the said Member is not able to engage their avatar. Concern and paranoia over this is driving many Members to leave.

So Rose Anne thought at first about closing the portal to that affected system. However, this would destroy any hope she had at fulfilling her initial agenda, as one could see. So she resolved to not pursue that option until the issue was actually on Mahathia's cosmic doorstep. So instead, she resolved to have a border station and a fleet of guard ships built to conduct rigorous border checks on anyone going in and out of the Mahathia system.

The only concern here was that this would require a lot of effort and a lot of investment of Arturian currency. Many of Rose Anne's followers hesitated up to this point. But then she received contact from an avatar named Rigor, who promised to give funding in full. The only condition here was that Rigor would not reveal his true avatar identity until they were both concealed. This, of course, was where my input was needed.

I remember the the short time that I was a Cabotton student. And yes. I did create an avatar in the Third Level Society and played it up to a decent skill level. But I did not know that talk would spread about me and my avatar in such a way that Rose Anne Mahathy would remember me all these years later.

"I was worse off than you," she said to me today. She then explained how she started out as a poorly skilled novice, having been summoned to work with Jeo Brock. She spent a couple sessions with him but was then pulled away on another assignment for a couple weeks. After a month or so, she came back purely on interest to continue questing. During that time, her avatar, Rosane, trained with Jeo Brock's avatar to become better-skilled. Eventually, Jeo finished his four-year degree and left the Cardmaster position, working a year with West Horizon, who then paid him to go back to Cabotton University for a graduate degree, graduating in 1290.

Rachele Evernorth was the Dungeonmaster up to that point, but then said that 1291 would be her last year. Jeo Brock ran for the Dungeonmaster position that year, apparently for the second time in his life as he did so during a previous year, but this time lost to Bella Clame. Jeo loved the Society so much that he would have still remained with them despite losing the Dungeonmaster position again, but West Horizon called him back. Rose Anne, on the other hand, stayed with the Society, having had a career change that had her working as a paid apprentice to a spellcrafter business in the town of Cabotton proper. In the days after Jeo Brock, her avatar went from decently-skilled to a figure very highly revered in the Society, judging by how many people come to her for advice and the calls she got to build the cosmic blockworld of Mahathia.

So that, according to Rose Anne, is demonstrating of the notion that no learning track per say was needed to become very well-skilled with my own avatar.

The issue with me, however, is how little time I spent in the Society, and, quite frankly, how unfamiliar I am with this whole thing. It all went back to the fall of 1287, when I first enrolled in classes at Cabotton University, and also joined the Third Level Society. Lowen was the name of my avatar. And I was quite proud of my creation when I first made them. This avatar of mine was neither male nor female. I felt initially that there were too many stereotypes over gender, even in the Third Level Society. I wanted to give my avatar as equal of a set of capabilities as possible. The idea in my mind was that Lowen could become anything.

I developed the character of my avatar for a little while. Then schoolwork had me busy for awhile. There was a slight lull in the weeks leading up to finals, meaning I went back to my avatar for...I think...about two to three weeks. At the end of that period...in other words...right before finals, Lowen was an avatar I was quite proud of. Lowen was good at casting a non-gendered image, they were good at concealment of oneself and small groups of questers, and had a good custom-made spaceship.

It was other circumstances that made me leave Cabotton and the Society to go back to North Kempton. That was December 1287. I have not touched Lowen since. In fact, I have all but forgotten her. And I explained that to Rose Anne. But regardless, Rose Anne insists that I may be better skilled with my avatar than I think I am.

We will just have to see.