Luke first thought to defend himself.
Not in the physical sense, more so that he believed his body well trained. Compared to how he left Earth, and now, was a night and day difference. The Ascension had bulked him up moderately while clearing his body of most scars and marks.
The strength stat, at least to his experience, also assisted in toning him up. Luke peered back at Musai and found himself unable to respond. Sure, Luke thought he was up to snuff, but to the High Defier?
Peerless standards, to some, could be irredeemable trash to others. Luke swallowed his slowly building pride and answered humbly. “Please teach me well, High Defier Musai.”
Letting the stray hair fall to the sides of his face, Musai instructed, “Sit beneath the waterfall, you shall find a smooth stone planted there by me for your use. Today, we train your mind so tomorrow, you can control your body. Begin.”
Luke stood up and veered off to the pond behind the pagoda. Musai added, “Wear your white robes. Your current equipment will lessen the effectiveness of the training. Leave your companion here. She is in need of calming her mind, and you are to sharpen yours. Let her heart settle, and she may join you when she is ready.”
After a short hesitation, Luke prodded Sooty, “You heard him pal. I know you’re scared after last night, but Musai is here to help both of us.”
Sooty shook her head and gripped her nails on his shoulders. It was good he’d not yet unequipped the Shadowmeld Spaulders; otherwise, he’d be experiencing a new pain. Yet he could only look at Sooty with reassuring eyes, “I’m not going anywhere pal, we’ll only be yards apart.”
Caw! Sooty flapped her wings defiantly.
Musai tapped his knee from his meditative position on the Pagoda, “Companion to Sin, the barrier within your mind must be dealt with immediately. Before you are forever left behind, unable to aid that which you hold dear.”
Sooty’s feathers stiffened, and she reluctantly left Luke. She perched on the edge of the Pagoda, facing toward Luke.
“Expand your senses, young companion. Reach within to the tendrils of shadow, master them, find them, fight to never lose your freedom. To become the partner you desire to be.”
The crow closed her eyes, and Luke saw her breathing calm, except for the occasional twitch.
“Go on, face your challenge so that she may face hers. A master must learn to give the companion time, and the companion must understand their path to help their master.”
Luke changed out his gear to wear the white robe and woven sandals.
“I’m leaving you here, Wayfinder, Xera. Enjoy the view.” Luke stabbed Xera into the soil near the pond, and Wayfinder hung from her hilt.
“Take note of how your body reacts, lad. That’s not your everyday calm and balm water your grubby feet are about to slink on into. Not a clue what this ‘vessel’ is, but you ended up an ice affinity for a reason. Accept the shock, but don’t let it boss you around like an old wife, you hear?” Wayfinder said.
“Sure have a way of putting it, Wayfinder. But I’m picking up what you’re putting down.”
Xera’s voice emanated from her crystal, “Can you turn me into a wand, master? It’s been too long. My wanderful moments are hitting critically low levels.”
Luke touched Xera and let some essence flow into her. She turned into a wand, which dropped Wayfinder to the ground. Xera chuckled.
Dusting Wayfinder off, Luke put him beside Sooty.
Getting the show on the road, He dipped a foot into the pond, finding it blisteringly cold. Considering his adaptation to frost, he found that confounding.
“Your primary technique is elementalization, and your element ice, yet your vessel is weak. You enable your mind to limit the body. This must be rectified, or your path shall sever before it truly begins.”
From that guidance, Luke dipped the other foot in. He underwent a brain freeze and couldn’t think for a moment. He pushed through once his mind started to respond again and sank further into the pond. The sting from cold shot to his eyes. Unable to suppress it, Luke’s teeth chattered.
When thoughts of stopping intruded, he remembered the scene in the cellar. His abilities had helped, sure, but his technique made him unstoppable. An entire underworld group, all above him in level, swatted like a bug and controlled like sheep. Now frozen in a gory pile.
What could he accomplish if he managed to take it a step further?
The Reaver inhaled and concentrated. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, finally, he vaulted to the waterfall. His feet found purchase under the wet stone, and the water crashed against his body. From the shock, he nearly lost his balance. Luke shivered uncontrollably, every instinct said to get out of the water.
Water pressurized by gravity dominated his hearing. He hugged himself for warmth, a fruitless attempt. He tried getting his body to adjust, to sit. Luke’s hair clumped against his face. He started making a ‘fuoou’ sound every third breath.
Alright, damn it. The waterfall isn’t going to disappear, and Musai would tell me to go back in if I left. Let’s get something out of this. Do it right, Luke. Do it right.
Luke dropped in one motion, legs hanging over the smooth stone platform, half submerged in the pond. The waterfall above interfered with his breathing if he lost concentration. He put effort into one goal: sitting correcting under the waterfall.
First, he took one leg and crossed it. Once he stably accomplished that, Luke did the same with the other. With that out of the way, Luke straightened his back and put one hand on each knee. Somehow, in this world, water could become colder than ice. Otherwise, how could he feel perfectly fine around the frost he made, but fight against cardiac arrest with this waterfall?
It’s all in the mind, you can adjust, you can handle this. It’s only vastly uncomfortable, not impossible.
Luke piped up, “Master Musai, I’m under the waterfall, what’s next?”
Musai spoke lowly, yet his voice pierced through the crashing sound of water clearly, “You’ve commanded ice, yet not your mind. When you can make the water no longer cloud your consciousness and shake your body, the road to progress with elementalization reopens. Stay there for three hours. Leave this realm afterward.”
Observing his body, Luke shivered every other second. He wasn’t ‘at home’ with this cold. And it was true his mind blurred from it. Every so often, Luke tried to steady his breathing and firm up his body. While it had an effect, the problem remained.
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“Not everything can be done in a day.”
Time passed, and Musai spoke, “Dry yourself and listen.”
Luke hopped up and tried to clear over the pond in one leap. Musai moved his palm, and Luke sunk hopelessly into the water. Shaking himself off, he crept onto dry land and found two cloths Musai laid out against the stone on the Pagoda.
While using them, Luke overhead Musai.
“Your chosen primary technique, elementalization, is one of the easiest techniques to begin with, but mastery is truly difficult. Many come to an unassailable wall at the apprentice understanding. Yet you have sailed smoothly to expert.”
Musai stood up and paced around the pagoda, arms behind his back, “Do you understand what attributes do for you, youngest branch?”
Luke scratched the back of his jaw, “Agility makes you faster, strength more powerful, and intellect better for magic power? HP seems to enhance resistances, body endurance, and durability overall.”
The High Defier lightly chuckled, “I do suppose you can put it that way, but it is far from the nuance needed to fully use what is available to you. Let us use agility as the conduit, it does increase your speed and agile movement. However, the most important is that it affects the time around you and those near you.”
The Reaver’s eye’s popped, “Agility controls fucking time? What, where, when, how, why?
Musai cupped his hands and picked up Sooty, who remained in her trance. While handing over the crow to Luke, he continued, “Those with far higher agility, should they use it, command the perception of time for those near them. They do, indeed, go faster, but those affected go slower nearby. This can be partially mitigated with a comparable intellect attribute, but it is impossible to counter fully.”
Accepting Sooty and gently placing her on his shoulder, Luke asked, “What about strength and the others?”
“Strength alters your ability to better adapt to intellect, agility, and all other attributes. It increases your explosive power and raises your durability. You jump higher, cut deeper, handle greater weight, or strain from ether on your body. No matter the class, you can specialize in one attribute but never ignore the others.”
The grandmaster swordsman clasped a hand on Luke’s shoulder, “Dispense further questions at the next session. The important note for you is that your companion has distributed too heavily into agility and intellect.” Musai’s eyes fixated on Sooty to further emphasize his point, “To achieve the necessary balance, her strength must reach half of the highest baseline attribute. Speak to her when you find the opportunity. Return here in the morning each day for the foreseeable future. Do not delve so deep into the dungeons you fail to commit to proper training.”
Thinking about his adventures with Sooty, Luke could get behind the idea that focusing too much on one stat, but severely ignoring another, is not ideal in the long run. He assented, “I’ll be here at the same time again, Master Musai. Thank you for trying to help Sooty.”
“It is my duty as High Defier to guide any of my Defiers, as was for the High Defier before me.” Musai turned and walked back to the pagoda, passing it and taking one of the two swords out. He started swinging it slowly.
Luke took that to mean the conversation was over. He retrieved Wayfinder and Xera, swapped back to his combat gear, and left the realm through the red portal. He escaped the Defier's guild before Annika or worse could pin him down.
Meandering down Sylen’s streets, Luke tried to plan out the day. First on the agenda was picking up the crafting order he placed and, hopefully with it, gold from what he sold to the leather working store. As he took out the Four Armormen insignia, he tossed it up and down gently. As he passively looked over the Interface log, Luke made headway toward the cramped craftsmen zone nearby.
[You have reached level 28. Acquired six skill points]
[Your companion, Sooty, has reached level 28. Acquired three skill points]
[You have stolen 195 HP, 25 strength, 26 agility, and 14 Intellect]
[Expanded Greed has stolen 2 resilience and 2 poison resistance]
While he’d grown used to the first three and expected it, the first application of Expanded Greed from the Spectral Heart stood out. As described, the chances were low, but it added up. Roll of the Reaver also applied. The nuance for chances was utterly unknown on rolls for special stats.
Now, if Luke took off Asani’s Jerkin, he’d still have poison resistance. As for resilience, this was given to all tier ones, at least for people, but more passive damage mitigation was welcome in his book. Facing off against the next tier brought him a new plethora to steal.
Thinking about leveling and growth reminded Luke, “Sooty, Master Musai told me you’ve been neglecting your strength stat too much. Do you have free points when you level up? I don’t have any, so I have no idea if it’s intentional on your part or not.”
Sooty tapped on his shoulder and looked down in disappointment. She communicated with a few clicks.
“You’re sorry? No, no, I’m not blaming you for anything, Sooty. Because of my lack of knowledge, I couldn’t correct you back in the cave. But you do have some free points when you level?”
The crow perked up and cawed affirmatively.
“Great, I’ll try to figure out this training with you. Iona should know something. In the meantime, the next time you level, throw what free points you get into strength, okay? Until you get to about half of what your agility is. Not going to force you, but Musai believes it’s best. I’ll double check with Iona.”
Sooty made a salute with her wing and rattled proudly.
“Ha, glad you’re up for it. Feeling a little better? I failed you, I should’ve come looking instead of going to sleep thinking Lulu was around.”
The corvid sent over uneasy feelings, a confused mixed through Reaver’s Link. Luke scratched her talon supportively. Xera finally started to speak more in public, “It’s not your fault master, that other bird was mean to Sooty. I know it!”
“Xera, it’s easy to blame others in life. And sometimes I do it too, but Sooty is my family. It is up to me to have her back, like she has mine. But it does strike me as odd that Lulu wasn’t around.” Sooty rubbed her head against Luke’s.
She’s keeping up a strong front, but Reaver’s Link reveals it plainly to me. Sooty is scared. Terrified of other people. Especially human and monic men. Luke clutched his hands for a split second.
Time healed all wounds, and Luke treated Sooty with this approach.
But Rune had some work to do tonight. The price for pushing too far had yet to be paid in full. Luke remembered hearing the words Purple Emperor and White Snake. He’d look into them. In fact, if it were possible, he wanted to know every single ‘gang’ that accepted the contract on Sooty.
With the absentminded thoughts, Luke stopped before a blue metal door with rotted wood around it in a wide alley. He knocked on it, and a sliding door slot opened up. Feline eyes stared back. Kelic, the watchman for this crafters’ enclave, spoke demandingly, “Insignia.”
Not wanting to get into a pointless spat, Luke kept back his sharpening tongue and revealed the Four Armormen insignia already in his hand.
Kelic unlocked the door at a painfully slow rate. Clicks, bangs, and chains moving loudly cut through the previous silence in the alley. Luke tapped his foot but otherwise let the watchmen be petty. The door swung at a breakneck speed when Kelic pushed it after the locks were undone. Luke smoothly backed up a pace, and the wind from the motion harshly brushed against his face.
Ignoring Kelic, Luke strode inside and beelined to the leatherworking storefront. As he stepped through, he noticed the usually displayed apparel was gone. Around the primarily wooden interior, three craftsmen stood proudly behind one set-up table in the middle of the room.
Dejen, the tora leather worker, greeted with a half bow, “Master Defier Luke, I’ve created the requested leg item.” His eyes wandered, “I also took the liberty of using the rest of the materials to craft boots to make them into a set. I hope you can forgive me for taking advantage of the situation.”
Fearing for her employee, the elderly elf woman and middle-aged man looked at Luke nervously. As if to try and smooth out the ‘issue,’ the store owner, the elf, took out a bulging sack of coins.
“This is the gold we procured to pay for the generous materials you left us. As a token of apology, we paid more than the typical going rate.”
Luke said, “You’re overreacting, I wanted all of Onelius’s Hide and Horns to be used when I gave them over. If the boots are useful, I’m happy you used them for that purpose.”
The elf woman and human leather worker beside Dejen sighed in relief. After that, Dejen straightened up in pride, “With this creation, I’ve leaped over the gap, Master Defier Luke.” He leaned a shoulder toward the elf woman and human, “The news has spread wide due to Kalara’s and Leo’s hard work. The lenders are more than willing to extend the line of credit, and treatments for my daughter have resumed. I’ve already received multiple high-paying commissions. My entire family is in your debt, sir.”
“I’m happy for you, Dejen. No father should have to see his daughter pass before him helplessly. Wish the best for you, and that you’ll go further from here. Is it fine to take a look?”
The three crafters backed away from the setup table to hold the newly crafted legs and boots. Luke picked up both items and took note of their detail.