Chapter 21: Understanding

Chapter 21: Understanding

Leif brooded while he waited for his [Gilded Body] skill to recover after overuse.

Imagine for a moment, that if, whenever you wanted to talk, you had to solve a puzzle cube while balancing on a tightrope. Ok, now imagine something more sensible but equally as challenging. What I’m trying to get across is that it wasn’t easy.

Leif and Marcus sat off to the side watching Sieg get further and further into the statues training, with every attempt he grinded away, progressing more and more. The large man's movements were powerful but nearly perfectly controlled. The axehead parting the air like a scalpel, each swing surgical.

“He’s really good, you know?” Marcus said with a smile. “Sieg I mean. Really smart too, he beat me in several systems theory classes.”

Leif gurgled non-committally. Was there an easier way to switch between contrasting consonants?

“Oh hey, that's different.” Marcus said, putting aside the notebook he was writing in and perking up.

The spriggan looked up when he detected something manifest within the chamber. An intent, directed at Sieg. The axe phantom had solidified, it now stood, tangible and in a combat stance.

“Final part?” Sieg grunted. “Gods I hope so, this seriously sucks.” Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

“Kick its ass big guy!” Marcus cheered.

Sieg cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. Then the projection attacked. It moved in familiar motions, never deviating from the forms it had been imparting. Though it moved in new and unpredictable patterns of the pre-existing stances and strikes.

The two combatants whirled and struck, their battle constantly picking up speed. Steel axehead met spectral projection and sparks flew. Sieg winced and drew back as the phantom pressed him. The tall man fell a step behind in the dance of combat, then a second.

The projection spun out from a flurry of quick testing strikes into a devastating overhead swing. Sieg caught the attack on his armoured forearm. Blood seeped from where the armour had cracked and down into the pool of water.

Sieg roared and the air grew cold, shards of ice misted into existence and the water below quickly froze over. Then Sieg burst forward, no longer in the statues' stances, power surged around him.

Ice-layers built up around his axehead, sharpened sheets of infused elemental energy. His weapons edge grew in size and the air screamed as he struck forward and parted the projections head from its shoulders.

It flashed red, then poofed out of existence.

“Nobody fights without skills!” Sieg complained loudly. He gestured to the axe statue. “I don’t have your stupid class. Shouldn’t have to fight like I do.” He trailed off, letting his skills disperse into spooling vapour.

Leif stood. Couldn’t he do something about Sieg’s wound?

===

Blight's Bounty:

Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Technique (Blood)*

Your attacks passively drain vitality from struck foes. You may actively syphon or bestow lifeforce via continuous touch.

Blood you absorb is converted into the amber sap that beats within your heart. This amber sap naturally becomes compatible with any target you bestow it upon.

After you have drained a being of vitality you gain up to +40% to all attributes for one hour. This bonus is lost incrementally over the hour-long duration.

===

He could! Leif had never used the healing portion of the skill on someone else so maybe... He made to walk over but Sieg quickly popped a small red object into his mouth and started chewing. The tall man squinted at Leif. “What? You wanted my blood?”

“Not... blood...” Leif managed to get out. “Can... heal...”

“That's superstitious nonsense.” Sieg nodded in Leif’s direction, seeing the spriggan’s interest. “My trial was about my decision to leave my tribe and come south, about walking away from perceived responsibility and accepting my choice.” He shrugged. “There was a monster too but it was hardly worth mentioning, I killed it in a single hit while it was forming.”

“I failed my first attempt, lost three levels and was sick for a month.” Marcus said with a faraway gaze. “I had to get further below the skill threshold by fusing more than is recommended at such a low level. It cost a ton but shouldn’t be harmful in the long run."

“Fu...sion...?” Leif was struggling to form words as he pushed [Gilded Body]’s limb creation to its limits.

“It takes a long time.” Sieg explained. “But it can be sped up with mana catalysts like shards. Pretty much any skill can theoretically be fused with any other skill, as long as you can picture what a successful fusion would look like.”

“The Academy teaches the ‘Trestotle Model’ for progression. Each level is like a balloon, gaining experience expands the balloon with the ultimate goal of ‘levelling up’ being like popping the balloon.” Marcus said in a lecturing tone, hand gestures demonstrating something slowly expanding.

“Skills are like a counter weight. They push back against the expansion, only a little bit for each one. But if you go over your skill limit, usually between fifteen and twenty, your skills push down with enough force that progress becomes impossible.”

“It's a balancing act, you need to fuse skills to keep yourself below the limit. But each fusion is harder and harder, takes more time and resources. So you can’t just fuse a bunch of low grade skills. You need to be selective or else progress at higher levels will be extremely difficult.” He explained.

Leif nodded, it seemed to make sense.

“What was your advancement like?” Sieg asked. “Can’t say I’m not a little curious how a monster's bottleneck differs from our own.”

Leif paused. He hadn’t completed his advancement. I still don’t know why they think I’m level thirty. He realised.

“You don’t have to tell.” Marcus said, waving away Sieg’s question. “It’s personal, I have no intentions of sharing my advancement.”

“No... I... don’t... know...” How could he explain? Words were hard so he’d settle with a half truth and try again later.

Sieg frowned and shifted. He shot Marcus a look, the other man shrugged.

“I’m taking a break from the pool. It’s all yours.” Sieg said motioning to the ring of statues.

Leif nodded. He wanted to see how far he could get. Think about his first skill fusion while he was at it.

===

The two humans watched the spriggan activate the unarmed statue and begin the training routine. It was remarkable how quickly Leif was improving over just a few days.

“Think he gained a comprehension skill that involves combat?” Marcus asked as he stretched.

“It’s possible. Hard to tell. It’s not like we know all the rules of monster skill gain.”

“So...”

“First whiff of dishonesty my skill has detected so far.” Sieg said flatly.

“So he does know but doesn’t want to share?” Marcus considered thoughtfully. “Eh, if anything that makes me more inclined to trust him. Everyone’s got secrets, you know?”

Sieg grunted in agreement. “At least I know my skill is working.”

“...I can lie more often if you’d like?”

“Helpful as always.”