Vina stood in an open field. The morning sun was just rising and a fog had settled over the area, giving Vina a peaceful feeling at the beauty surrounding her. After Norimor had seen Vina’s knife throwing skills, she had led her out to a vast field. As far as Vina could tell, there was nothing around them at all. As they had walked here, Vina had time to see Norimor in a different light.
Her new Bloodshot Eyes ability had been telling her secrets about Norimor the entire time they walked. The most glaring thing that Vina could see was an intensely red circular hole with a pit in the center above Norimor’s heart. Vina’s vision did not allow her to see through Norimor’s armor, but rather a glowing circle was superimposed in her vision. The edges were ragged like someone had shattered her to get at whatever was inside. Beyond that, Vina detected knife after knife on Norimor’s person. A knife would flash in her vision and then go away. Flash after flash, Vina could count a dozen hidden knives on her.
“Vina, I am going to begin training you now. You cannot hope to complete the tasks we will be given by The Watch with your current abilities. I need you to be able to tell me how your points are allocated and what skills you have. I promise I will not share anything I learn today with anyone under the penalty of death”, Norimor said.
Vina had a popup appear in her vision.
Norimor has offered you a promise under the penalty of death. If she does not keep her promise, she will die. Do you accept her promise? Yes? No?
Vina considered the prompt carefully. “So this is what Ebba was keeping from me”, she thought to herself. Vina felt the consequence of betrayal was significant enough that accepting it wasn’t a major risk. Part of her wondered exactly what the method of death would be. She selected Yes on the prompt.
“Thank you. Now you can be honest with me. Your eyes have changed overnight. Is this a new class ability or is there something wrong with your health?” Norimor asked softly, almost in a whisper in this empty field.
Vina looked at Norimor in surprise. “My eyes changed?”
Norimor stepped closer and looked directly into her eyes, “Yes. The sclera of your eyes has gone red, the green of your iris remains, and your pupils are black.”
Vina fished out a mirror from her backpack and examined herself. Norimor was right. The whites of her eyes had indeed changed to a deep blood red. Her green eyes still showed through however. She stared at herself in shock. Her eyes were striking. Even she felt intimidated by what she saw. “I… yes. I selected a class ability this morning. Holy shit, is this permanent?”
“Probably. Sometimes class abilities change our bodies. I don’t need to know what that does at this point in time. I would like to discuss the knife throwing skill you exhibited this morning. How did you create the red knife and make it return to your hand?” Norimor’s voice was soft as she spoke.
Vina was very distracted by her new eyes, but she explained her ability to create blood knives and how Blood Call could be used to recall her own blood back again. Norimor listened intently, taking in every detail. She asked a few questions, and Vina could tell Norimor was planning something.
“Do you have the juggling skill?” Norimor asked quietly once again.
Vina shook her head.
“Create three blood knives now. Toss them up into the air and catch them again. Do this until you gain the Juggling Skill.”
Vina hesitated, not quite sure how juggling was even done. She created three knives in her hand anyway, threw them up, and tried to catch them. She immediately felt the resistance that went with learning a new skill, but her mastery and agility were more than enough to overpower the clumsiness she felt. It didn’t take her long before she had the skill.
New Skill Learned: Juggling. Progress to next level 12%. Quest Updated: Learn Skills 3 34/75
Norimor then told her to continue juggling until she had leveled the skill twice more. It took her only a half hour more of juggling before she had finished.
Skill Level Up: Juggling has reached level 3. Your hand and eye coordination is improved by 2%. You have gained 70 experience points from leveling skills.
Norimor nodded her approval, “Now Vina I want you to throw them outward, away from yourself, and call them back. By doing this, I believe Trina’s system will consider you to be both juggling and throwing at the same time.”
Vina considered Norimor’s request for a moment imagining what this would look like, but she soon made her first attempt. She threw the knives outward and they traveled the maximum distance her Throwing skill would allow which was twenty two feet. Once the blade seemed to lose momentum, Vina called it back. She tried to keep up the same juggling rhythm she had before, but everything soon broke down when the blades came flying back at her faster than she was ready to catch them.
She looked at Norimor for any suggestions, but Norimor just watched her silently.
Vina began switching up the throws and experimenting with the timing. After a lot of practice she found something that seemed to work. Then her skills leveled up.
Skill Level Up: Juggling has reached level 5. Your hand and eye coordination is improved by 4%. You have one skill point. Skill Level Up: Throwing has reached level 7. Your current throwing distance is 27 feet. You can throw harder and faster. You have gained 185 experience points from leveling skills.
Once her skills leveled up, the balance was broken. The distance was further, the throwing speed was faster, and the travel time was different. Vina struggled once again to find the perfect timings. Hoping to find a solution, she opened her new skill point options.
Where would you like to spend your Juggling skill point? Option 1: Entertaining Juggler: People will enjoy watching your juggling 10% more. Option 2: Athletic Juggler: Strength and agility increased by 5% while juggling. Option 3: Routine Juggler: Juggling takes 10% less of your attention to do.
Vina stopped juggling as she considered her options. “Excuse me, Norimor. I have a skill point to place into juggling. Should I do increased strength and agility or juggling takes less attention?”
Norimor seemed to consider her words. “I take it the last option is worthless for combat. Strength and agility will allow you to throw items harder and be faster while doing it. However, my intention for you is that this will become a combat technique. When your knives hit a target, you will no longer be juggling that item. When you are not throwing these at your target, you will be juggling them. I recommend you do the one that reduces your required attention.”
Vina nodded her agreement and selected the third option as Norimor had suggested. Before she could begin juggling her knives again, Norimor spoke again. “Four knives now.”
Vina looked at her in surprise, but pulled more blood from herself to create a fourth knife. She began trying to juggle again, but immediately failed to keep them in the air. She felt Norimor move and Vina looked at her. Norimor had merely sat down and began to read a book. Vina called her knives back and started again.
~~~
Norimor was unforgiving in her standards. She pressed Vina harder and harder and added more knives. Vina could now manage six knives at once and her skills had rocketed upwards after hours of practice.
Skill Level Up: Juggling has reached level 7. Your hand and eye coordination is improved by 6%. Skill Level Up: Throwing has reached level 9. Your current throwing distance is 36 feet. You can throw harder and faster. You have earned 300 experience points from leveling skills.
The sun had reached the peak of the sky at this point and Vina knew the afternoon had started. She was covered in sweat from her exertions. Norimor did not seem to notice or maybe she didn’t care. “You may stop for now. There is another skill you need to learn. Accept the dueling window.”
Vina hesitantly accepted the dueling notification she received. She was fairly tired at this point and was looking forward to a rest.
“I want you to stand still. Do not use any skills at all. I am going to try to strike you, but I want you to focus only on avoiding it. Do not move your feet at all. You may only move your upper body”, Norimor said.
Vina furrowed her brows, “This sounds a lot like Mobility. I already have that skill.”
Norimor looked at her in surprise, “That’s a fleetingly rare skill.” She shook her head as if unbelieving. “But no this is not the same. Mobility will save your life almost every time you use it, but the stamina cost will exhaust you long before you win a fight. You need to use that skill only when you have no other choices. Prepare yourself. We’re beginning.”
Norimor blasted forward faster than Vina had ever seen someone move. Before she had a chance to react, she was struck on the shoulder. Norimor immediately stopped and looked at her in a considerate manner, “Am I too fast?”
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Vina held her shoulder in pain as nausea grew in her stomach. “Yes and too strong.”
“Okay. I’ll slow it down. When your pain has subsided, we’ll start again.”
Vina took a few moments, but she soon recovered. She realized she hadn’t actually suffered any damage. She wasn’t even sure where the nausea had come from. “Is that a special ability?” Vina wondered. “Etana had something like that from her class.”
Norimor performed an open palm strike toward Vina’s other shoulder and she easily leaned to the side. Norimor didn’t wait and struck out again and again, every time with an open hand. Vina bobbed and weaved as best she could, sometimes taking a hit here and there. Soon Vina got into a groove as she avoided strike after strike, but Norimor sped up faster and faster. When Vina could avoid only a third of the strikes, Norimor slowed down again.
Vina soon felt a connection with Norimor. This was like a dance and Vina knew nearly all of the moves. Every time she avoided a sequence of strikes, Norimor would speed up and Vina did her best to keep up. When she couldn’t manage, Norimor slowed down. Vina was enjoying this immensely, but soon she fell to the ground exhausted and nauseous once more. Her stamina was almost completely drained. She was so focused on her work with Norimor, she hadn’t seen a window pop up.
New Skill Learned: Avoidance. Avoidance is a passive skill and does not level up. Avoidance is a skill that scales with your agility attribute. You have a 12.5% chance to avoid most attacks when you are not moving.
Quest Updated: Learn Skills 3 35/75
“Looks like it takes my agility and divides it by two to get my chance to avoid an attack. ” she muttered to herself. “Does it have diminishing returns?” she asked Norimor.
Norimor nodded, “Yes. It can never truly reach perfect avoidance. Your agility will be very important for that skill going forward. Now Vina, you will be attacking me with your six blades.” Norimor pulled one of her hidden daggers, “And I’ll be using just one. This will be a throwing duel only. No swords or fists… or whatever you used on those trees earlier.”
Vina rested a few more minutes, waiting for her stamina to recover. She got to her feet and created six knives. Since neither party had killed the other, their duel had technically not ended. Norimor walked some distance away and signaled the continuation of their duel.
Vina threw out two of her knives at Norimor almost immediately, but she had already moved away from where she stood. “She’s so fast!” Vina thought to herself. Norimor moved behind her faster than she could turn around. She whipped around and saw the one knife heading toward her. She barely managed to lean to the side and the knife missed. Vina launched a couple more of her own knives and recalled them when they too missed. She began juggling the six knives, throwing each one out at Norimor and calling it back when the attack missed. Every time Vina got close, Norimor would remain unscathed.
“She’s not even avoiding them. How am I missing?” Vina thought to herself, but she didn’t have time to consider further. Norimor had picked her knife back up from the ground and was positioning herself once again for an attack. This time, Vina kept her eyes on Norimor and saw the knife heading toward her. Vina considered moving, but as one of her recalled blades arrived in her hand, she threw it out. Her blood blade collided with Norimor’s knife mid air. Norimor’s blade launched up into the air and Vina watched in shock as she jumped up to grab it. “She jumped five feet into the air!” Vina’s brain screamed at her. That was superhuman. Even professional basketball players can’t clear that kind of height. Vina turned her juggled knives on Norimor as she reached for the knife in the air. Vina clearly saw one of her knives pass right through Norimor’s shoulder.
Norimor caught the knife and threw it at Vina with such speed, she couldn’t track it. She tried to raise her own knife to block where she thought it would go, but she suddenly felt a pain in her throat. She tried to take a breath, but struggled to do so. She reached her hands up and yanked the knife from her neck. Vina felt her blood begin to flow. She panicked and used Blood Call. Her blood obeyed and it returned back into her body, but she couldn’t breathe.
~~~
Vina sat up with a jolt.
“You’ll need more practice to be able to use that approach in battle with an even opponent. Give yourself time, and I think you’ll find it to be very effective against most people at a moderate range. You did manage to hit me once”, Norimor said. She was sitting casually beside Vina.
Vina reached for her throat instinctually, but as soon as she did, she knew she was completely healed per the duel’s rules. “How did my knife not hurt you? Were you using an Aspect?”
Norimor looked at her for a moment before responding, “I do not have an aspect.” Vina’s Blood Shot eyes caught something in the furrowing of Norimor’s brows. It did not tell her it was a lie or that Norimor was being deceptive. Rather that there was something hidden there. Vina chose to not press further.
“The day is nearly done, Vina. Do you have any questions before we rest?”
Vina considered for a moment, “Why did you choose this knife juggling thing for me? Why did we spend a whole day on it?”
Norimor took a deep breath, “Your skills are quite lacking. You need to spend every day, all day training your skills. I see your ability to bring knives back to your hand as a renewable method of attack that few can match. How many could withstand a constant barrage of knives being thrown at them? How long could you last?”
“I guess not long. I couldn’t last against a single one of your knives. You only threw it at me twice”, Vina answered.
“Yes. Most people will struggle against an attack like this. When your throwing skill, agility, and strength get higher, you will be a dangerous person, Vina.”
Vina considered Norimor’s words, “I have another skill called Ambidexterity. Do you think I could do this with both hands?”
Norimor’s jaw dropped, and she looked at Vina like she had a second head, “You also have ambidexterity?”
“Yes. I got it automatically when I received my class. I haven’t been able to level it, however. It’s stuck at level one.”
Norimor seemed to take a moment to gather herself. “You have mobility and ambidexterity. You can make your own knives. Does Haco know these things?”
Vina shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
Norimor stood up and began to pace around and quietly spoke, “Okay. I see why they paired you with me. They really have no idea what they’re asking though. You even have blood skills.” Norimor turned to Vina, “I was hoping to not have to ask you this. What is your class?”
Vina was confused now, “I’m a Blood Weaver. What’s wrong?”
Norimor shook her head as if clearing it, “Nothing is wrong. Your particular combination of skills… Mobility and ambidexterity are not…” Norimor’s voice trailed off. “Are you a Traveler?” she asked abruptly.
Vina nodded slowly. Her normal hesitation to share personal information was set aside knowing Norimor was bound by her promise, “I… uhm yes. I was born here and sent to another world. I was pulled back into this world when I became an adult.”
Norimor stared at her in disbelief, “Did anyone tell you what being a Traveler means?”
“Not really. Someone told me that Trina has a plan for me”, Vina said.
Norimor bit her lip, “I’m not sure I’m even allowed to tell you… " She paced around a bit more in silence before sitting back down beside her. “Vina, a traveler is a title given by Trina’s system. Every time a traveler has come here, it has bestowed a different benefit on the person. People suspect it is Trina’s attempt to help those who have never been to a world like this. It’s a motivation to grow and become better. Perhaps in your situation it is to help you adjust faster. Do you know what benefit your Traveler Title is giving you?”
“No, I didn’t know the title actually gave benefits”, Vina said.
“Look at your title screen and read it now.” Norimor suggested gently.
Vina opened her character screen and searched around until she found her titles window.
Title: Traveler (Skill Benefit). If you want, you may learn skills that would otherwise be unavailable for other people.
“Yes. I have been given a skill benefit, it says. I can learn skills other people wouldn’t be able to”, Vina said thoughtfully.
“Based on what I’m seeing, that sounds right. Vina, I want you to look at my arm. Look at my veins.” Norimor pulled up her sleeve to reveal multiple long scars. The scars had previously lit up in Vina’s Bloodshot eyes skill but she had ignored them, not thinking them to be of any importance.
“What am I…” Vina started to ask, but Norimor interrupted her,
“Just look.”
Vina stared at her veins. Her blood sense skill highlighted each of them in her vision like red streaks of light. This close to Norimor, Vina could feel the blood coursing through both of their bodies. Norimor’s blood was more numb to her blood sense than her own, but she could still feel the vitality and strength in her body. Vina stared and stared until she began to grow tired.
“Is something supposed to happen?” Vina asked.
“We’re not done yet. We’ll do this until nightfall”, Norimor answered softly.
Two more hours went by as the sun began to set. Vina stared at Norimor’s arm with all of the energy she had, but she was unsure what she was looking for. Norimor herself refused to elaborate further and their conversation had died out. Vina watched the veins in her arm pulse out a rhythm, but it was unnecessary. She could feel it as well. Although the act of staring was monotonous, she enjoyed the connection she felt with the blood around her. Being this close to another living person made her feel warm inside.
There was a delicateness to Norimor’s arm, but also strength. The muscles that flexed beneath her skin told Vina just how powerful she actually was. The blood in her veins warned her though. Norimor only had so much blood and if she bled out, that strength would be worthless. “It wouldn’t even take that much. That artery isn’t very deep”, Vina thought to herself.
Then Vina saw something. A small red dot the size of the tip of a pin appeared over top of the artery flowing through Norimor’s arm. Vina blinked in surprise, “What… uh…” Vina looked up at Norimor in surprise. When she looked at her face, she saw the same red dots appeared on Norimor’s eyes, the sides of her neck, and jaw.
“In Trina’s name, you actually learned it”, Norimor whispered.
Vina felt new knowledge pushed into her mind. It was intense, but not as bad as blood runes. The feeling was familiar now and Vina braced herself for the squirming feeling in her brain.
New Skill Learned: Weak Points. Weak Points is an active skill and does not level. Quest Updated: Learn Skills 3 36/75
She stood up and backed away from Norimor. She could see tiny red dots scattered all over Norimor’s body, including her elbows, knees, and ankles. The dots were hinting to her how she could take advantage of the weak points just as Blood Sense had been earlier. “Bend the ankle like this. Stab the throat like that. You need to go this deep to hit this spot.” Vina shut the skill off. It was unsettling listening to a voice describing how she could hurt other people.
“Vina, you level the Ambidexterity skill not just by using your offhand, but by using your offhand as if it is your dominant hand. Practice throwing with your offhand, but do not think of it as your offhand.” As Vina stood to do that, Norimor grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back down.
“The day is over and my promise is nearly at an end. I have learned much today about you, but I cannot share any of it with anyone without dying. I have one final question for you today and I hope you’ll answer me honestly. How do you feel about The Twelve?” Norimor asked.
Vina examined Norimor’s face searching for the reason behind this question. She had no idea who Norimor was and had no idea of her motivations. Her mind told her to be cautious, but her rage bubbled back up and forced the truth out of her. “They stole something from me, and I want it back. I’ll do whatever it takes to get back what is mine. Even if that means killing all of you”, she said with venom in her voice.
Norimor seemed to absorb Vina’s words for a moment before speaking, “Someday you’ll be an enemy no one will want to have. They took something from me as well. Why don’t we kill them together?”
Vina blinked in surprise. Having allies couldn’t hurt. “I accept.”
Norimor smiled, “I’m glad I don’t have to kill you, Vina.”
Vina threw her hands up, “Why does everyone keep saying that!”