Karolina managed to catch up to Ada before she left to go searching for another camp early the next morning. The scout was near the edge of camp, stretching one of her legs in a pose that looked pretty uncomfortable.
“Hey Ada. Do you really need to stretch? I would think that our new bodies wouldn’t have to deal with sore muscles,” Karolina said. Stretching seemed like a safe topic to start on. Plus, she was actually curious, as she hadn’t felt sore in quite a while despite all the physical activity.
“Nah, I don’t really need to do it. It just feels right to stretch before going for a run, you know?” Ada responded.
“I guess. So, that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. The way you talked to Thomas yesterday…” Karolina trailed off, unsure where to go from there. This was really uncomfortable.
Ada let out a big sigh. “Look, I’m sorry for blowing up at Thomas yesterday. I just thought we were a team, you know? The three of us, taking on the world.”
“Yeah, I know,” Karolina said. That was what she had thought too.
“Anyway, I know he’s just scared, and that’s normal after what we’ve been through. He didn’t deserve that,” Ada continued.
“You should probably be telling him this,” Karolina pointed out.
“I will, after I get back. He’ll be awake then. He’s been sleeping in now that he has the chance to,” Ada said.
“I see,” Karolina said. “Well, I’m glad. Do you want me to help with the search?”
“No, I can handle myself. You’d just slow me down,” Ada said with an arrogant smirk.
Karolina let out a small chuckle, glad that Ada was still confident. However, she didn’t just want some empty boast, she needed to know that Ada would be safe. “I worry about you, you know? I haven’t forgotten about the direwolf.” She didn’t need to clarify which one she was talking about.
“I haven’t either,” Ada said seriously. “But I’ve leveled a lot since then. I’m much faster now, so I should be able to outrun anything I encounter. I’m also taking two health potions with me, and a potion that temporarily boosts my dexterity. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, if you’re sure,” Karolina said.
“I am. I just—I want you to know that I’m great at what I do. I can help you, not just the other way around,” Ada said.
“I know you can. I trust you,” Karolina said.
“Good. I’ll see you later,” Ada said, and was off in a red blur before Karolina had the chance to say anything else.
Karolina watched her go for a moment, then started heading back into camp. She gave a wave as she passed Jasmine, the archer Buckley saved, as the woman was going on her patrol. Creating a rotation of guards to patrol the edges of the camp was one of the first actions Aaron had taken after taking charge. He seemed to be doing a good job, which was a relief.
As she walked back towards the lodge, she considered what she should do with the rest of her day.
She could go out and kill some monsters, but she probably wouldn’t find anything at a high enough level in the area around the camp, and she didn’t want to head deep into the woods alone. Especially without access to Selena’s healing.
Maybe she should work on her skills some more? They were pretty undeveloped, as she’d spent most of her time leveling up instead of practicing with her skills. Upgrading Strong Blow had improved the skill by a lot, and she felt like she could upgrade her other skills if she invested enough time into it.
No, what she needed to do was talk to Thomas. There was still a lot about this world that she didn't understand, and Thomas was the person to help her figure it out. He’d spent the last few days tearing through the books he got from the forward barracks. Plus, she just wanted to spend some time with her friend.
Decision made, she headed toward Thomas’s cabin. After only a few minutes, she was at his door. Just as she was about to knock on his door, she remembered that he was still probably sleeping. She sighed.
She could just fiddle with her Combat Perception skill until he woke up. It was her most impressive skill, so she should probably understand how it works. She activated her mana perception and started observing the mana formation the skill created, confident that Thomas would be awake soon.
Over an hour later, she wasn’t feeling confident in that at all. She was honestly getting a little frustrated. She had pretty much memorized the formation the skill created, and wasn’t having any success in trying to alter it somehow. After another few minutes, she was officially done letting Thomas sleep in. It was getting close to noon!
She walked over to his door and knocked loudly. After a few seconds, she knocked again, a little louder. She only had to wait another minute for Thomas to open the door, looking sleepy.
“Good morning Thomas," she said brightly.
"Karolina? What's up?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes.
"I really need to know more about how the System works, and you mentioned that you learned some useful information that you thought I should know," she said.
"And you had to… nevermind. Come on in," he grumbled. Karolina could see that he was more happy to see her than annoyed, however. After offering her a seat, Thomas sat down on the bed.
She looked around the cabin. It wasn’t her first time in here, but she was still impressed at how well-built the cabin was. It was only a single room, but it had enough space for a bed, a bookshelf, and a table and chairs. Robert, the builder, did good work.
“So, yesterday you said that you’ve learned a lot from your books that should help me? I’m all ears,” she said.
“Oh, that’s right. I’ve learned some very interesting information about skills that I think you should know,” Thomas said.
“Works for me. I eagerly await your wisdom,” she said dryly.
“Thanks,” Thomas said, apparently still too tired to catch the wry note to her statement. "Well, you already know that you get three options for new skills every ten levels, right?”
“Right,” Karolina confirmed.
“I bet you don’t know how those options are selected by the System, though,” he continued.
“No, I don’t. How are they selected?” she asked.
“No idea,” he shrugged. “I don’t think anyone knows.”
“Then why bring it up?” Karolina asked. She knew he was heading towards a point, but she wished that he’d just flat out say it.
“Well, people might not know for certain how skills are selected, but they have roughly figured out what is taken into account. That’s the useful part,” Thomas said. He seemed wide awake now. “So, the authors believed that there are three main components: your class, your experiences, and who you are. Class is obviously the most important component, with your experiences being a close second. Experiences include a lot, like what mana you’ve used, what you’ve tried to do, and what you’ve actually accomplished. How your personality affects your skill options is impossible to pin down, but it’s known that people tend to get skills that suit them.”
Karolina took a moment to process everything that Thomas just said. It was a lot, but she didn’t know how actionable anything he said was. “So, basically, choose your class wisely, use the kind of mana you want to get skills for, and accomplish difficult feats,” she said.
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“Yes, that’s a good summary,” Thomas confirmed.
“Good. That was basically already the plan, so it’s good to have some confirmation that I'm putting my efforts in the right direction,” Karolina said.
“Glad I could help,” Thomas said. “Oh, I almost forgot. The skills you choose have a big impact on what class evolutions are available, so make sure to pick your skills wisely.”
“Thanks for the advice, Thomas,” Karolina said. She wondered how her Mana Armor would affect her class evolution choices?
“Also, while leveling up is usually good, all the books I’ve read recommend holding off on evolving your class before you’re ready,” Thomas said. “Of course, what makes someone ‘ready’ usually depends on them.”
“That makes sense,” she said. She still had some levels to go before that would be an issue, anyway.
“Actually, Karolina, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What was the name of the item that Selena took from you at the forward barracks again?” Thomas asked.
“A leadership skill crystal,” Karolina said sourly, not liking the reminder.
“I thought that's what you said, but I wanted to be sure. Honestly, it’s not the biggest loss in the world. Skill crystals have a lot of trade-offs,” Thomas said.
“Trade-offs?” Karolina repeated, curious. The item seemed beneficial.
“Well, I thought it was obvious, given that you only have three options when picking a skill,” Thomas said. It only took one glare to let him know that no, it wasn’t obvious. “Take the leadership skill crystal, for example. Using that crystal basically makes leadership skills more likely to be one of your options. That’s good if you really want a leadership skill, but it means you probably won’t even see the skill options that the System thinks are best for you. So yeah, trade-offs.”
“That makes sense. That sucks for Selena, I guess,” Karolina said with a smile. She was still infuriated at Selena for stealing it, but knowing that the item wasn’t all good made her feel better.
“Actually, speaking of Selena, I’ve been doing some thinking. I don’t think she can carry out her threat,” Thomas said.
“Oh?” Karolina asked. This should be interesting, even though she’s certain he’s wrong. After carefully observing the healer’s soul, she’s certain there’s nothing the woman wouldn’t do.
“Well, her kind persona is important to her, right? Otherwise, why would she put in all of that effort to maintain it? As long as we ask for healing publically, I just don’t see how she could justify not healing us to everyone,” Thomas said.
“I’m sure she could find a way around it. Selena doesn’t seem like the kind of woman to succumb to peer pressure,” Karolina said.
“Yeah, but this isn’t saying no to drugs or whatever. This is her basically killing someone in front of the whole camp. There’s no way she’d do that,” Thomas said.
“You didn’t see how angry she was when I supported Aaron. I think she’s capable of anything,” Karolina said somberly. Their pleasant mood was definitely broken. “Speaking of, I should probably go check on her, make sure she's not plotting my death or something,” Karolina said, not sure if she was joking or not.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that,” Thomas said with a half-hearted smile.
“Anyway, thanks for the information. It was nice spending some time with you when we’re not worrying about monsters. We should definitely do it again soon,” Karolina said.
“Yeah, it was nice talking to you. See you soon!” Thomas said as she walked out the door.
As she headed to Selena’s cabin, she wondered what she thought she was doing. She had seen the woman exactly once since Aaron had taken charge. Saying that she was going to see Selena had been a spur of the moment decision, but it did make sense, if only to ensure that the healer wasn’t actually plotting her death. But was that the only reason?
She thought back to seeing the woman in her cabin, shaking and afraid of dying. The moment had been forgotten in everything that followed, but she still remembered the strange kinship she had felt with the woman then. She wished that they didn’t have to be enemies.
With that thought rattling around in her head, she knocked on Selena’s door. It had been fixed since she had broken it during the attack. After a few moments, the blonde woman opened the door. Karolina could see her get angry the moment she saw that it was Karolina.
“No, I’m not healing you. Or your friends,” she said immediately.
“I’m not here for that,” Karolina said.
“Then what do you want?” Selena asked waspishly.
“Look, can I come in?” Karolina sighed, already tired of this.
Selena looked briefly uncomfortable, then sighed. “I guess,” she muttered, and turned around. As the healer walked back into her room, Karolina idly inspected her.
Selena Lewis: [Human (F) / Healer] - Level 15
Level 15, huh? She must have gotten her first new skill, then. As she stepped into the room, Karolina wondered bitterly if she had used the leadership skill crystal or not. Then, she saw the room, and any thoughts of levels and skills were forgotten.
The back wall had a fist-sized hole in it, with what looked like blood on one of the edges. The chair that used to be near the back of the room was shattered against a different wall. Karolina turned to look at Selena, suddenly concerned.
Now that she looked at the other woman more closely, Karolina could see that she was a little disheveled. It wouldn’t be as noticeable on someone else, but the healer had looked impeccably cleaned up every other time she had seen her.
“Are you… alright?” Karolina asked hesitantly, surveying the healer carefully.
“Of course I am. Why do you ask?” Selena replied.
“The chair. And the wall,” Karolina said flatly, not interested in playing that game today.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I was just a little angry a few days ago. Someone I thought I was developing a good relationship with betrayed me, that’s all,” Selena said darkly.
“Extortion isn’t typically the start of a good relationship,” Karolina said dryly, trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit. Selena was kind of scaring her, honestly. She was getting more concerned by the second that the other woman was actually going to try to hurt her.
“It wasn’t extortion! If you don’t provide a service for me, I won’t provide a service for you. That’s just basic economics,” Selena said, irritated.
“Basic economics?! The service that you won’t provide is literally saving my life!” Karolina said, amazed at the other woman’s audacity.
“How do you think hospitals work?” the other woman smiled.
“I’m not getting into a philosophical debate with you right now. What you threatened was wrong, and I’m glad I didn’t help you take Buckley’s place,” Karolina said hotly.
All at once, it felt like all of the warmth was drawn out of the room. Selena’s face lost all expression, and anger flared bright in her soul.
“Yeah, I need to ask about that. What’s so wrong with me that you’d rather die than have me be in charge of the camp?” Selena demanded. Karolina looked at her soul, and although she saw the expected anger, she was surprised to see a little hurt there, too.
“I can’t trust you with that amount of power. If you were willing to threaten me to gain power, what would you do to maintain it? I have no doubt you could be a good leader, but I don’t know if you would. I also have absolutely no intention of being your minion, as you put it,” Karolina said.
“Huh. I actually… didn’t really expect you to have a reason. That almost makes sense. Give me a second,” Selena said.
Karolina stared at Selena, wondering what was going through the other woman’s head. Her soul didn’t give her a lot of information, just that the other woman was thinking deeply about something.
“So you’re telling me that you don’t trust that I have good intentions, and worried that I would prioritize maintaining my power over leading the camp well. You’re completely wrong, of course, but I guess I can understand why you would think that. I haven’t really given you a lot of reasons to trust me,” Selena said. She looked pensive.
“You did give me some very good reasons to not trust you, though. The extortion especially,” Karolina said.
“Again, technically it wasn’t—that doesn’t matter. You’ve given me something to think about at least. You may go,” she said imperiously. As if she was the one who had invited Karolina over.
“Before I do that, I have to ask. You’re not planning on attacking me or my friends, right?” Karolina asked carefully. If the healer answered wrong, she didn’t know what she’d do.
“What? No. You may still be useful someday,” Selena said. A quick check of her soul seemed to show that she was telling the truth, which was a relief.
“Gee, thanks. About that healing…” Karolina tried. She didn’t expect her to have changed her mind, but she might as well check.
“No. Actions have consequences,” Selena said firmly. The healer seemed to carefully consider her for a moment. “Actually, if you need healing to live, I might be persuaded. But I would expect service for the rest of your life.”
“That’s not an option,” Karolina said.
“If you say so. See you around,” Selena said, clearly already thinking about something else.
Karolina nodded at her, and then left. She wasn’t sure if she felt better or worse, but at least she knew that she wasn’t going to get stabbed in the middle of the night or something.
Karolina found herself heading towards the edge of camp. Even if she wouldn’t level from it, just getting some practice fighting monsters should be helpful. Plus, she definitely wanted to hit something right now.
By the time she got back, she was sweaty but invigorated. Even though she hadn’t leveled up, she was still feeling much better.
Making her even happier, she saw Ada waiting by her cabin. “Good news?” Karolina asked as she approached the scout.
“Yup. I think I found another camp. Want to check it out tomorrow?” Ada said.
“Yes, yes I do,” Karolina smiled. Everything was finally starting to go right.