“I’m sure that you have already been warned why it is not wise for you to take on multiple enemies at once, even the best rogues in the Frontier are not able to take on a test by themselves. It's not a matter of strength, it’s more to do with an aptitude with the System,” Admin’s lecture continued.
The second day of learning had been more or less the same as yesterday’s, if Damien’s predictions were correct, it would follow a similar pattern.
“That is to say, the System designed each test considering the ability of each class and their applications. From this, we can gather that all possible outcomes are predetermined by the System. If all obstacles and solutions are made by the System, then there is no way to achieve something that isn’t within the desirable or satisfactory results,” Admin continued her explanation. The dazed eyes of Desmond let her know that her words were becoming lost on him, it was expected, not many people had an interest in this particular topic.
She spoke in simpler words, “In layman’s terms, rogues will not have a good time fighting hordes because Anathum is designed by the game to limit you as such. The same could be said for every other class and position, they each have their strengths and weaknesses. It's a hard limit which keeps the balance of things.”
It was strange for Admin to discuss this topic, in Damien’s eyes, it was counterproductive. Admin was the physical embodiment of the almighty System, she was meant to champion for the System, yet here she spoke with almost a hint of destain.
Although Desmond simply nodded at her words, Damien already had seen a flaw within her words. She said that people were limited by what the System allowed them to do, a way to ensure that things would not go out of hand and for Climbers to clear levels without getting so strong as to fodder the tests. It made perfect sense, except for the fact that he had already seen an example where things deviated from her explanation. It wasn’t definite proof or anything like that, but it was something.
Hoping to hear a clarification from the stoic Admin, he asked without making a mask to hide his intentions, “If the System assists you in using your skills and Fighting Styles, then I have two questions. You had previously explained to us that knowing how to use a skill was not the same as knowing how to best efficiently use it, there is more to using a skill that letting the System take over; user input,” his question came out of his mouth without emotion or meaningful expression. Unlike with other people were showing certain sentiment would have a higher chance of producing a positive response, Admin could read his mind, there was no need to hide himself from her.
He proceeded, “Furthermore I spoke to a Climber, she said that she was not as good as using her Fighting Style as her fellow Climbers, she was being outperformed. Which again brings up the factor that is different in each situation; user input. My questions are as follows, what determines your compatibility with the System, and if it is possible to underperform, then is it possible to do better than the hard limit?”
Damien’s dead tone had sent a shiver down Desmond’s spine, it was clear he was still unnerved around Damien. The serious face he was making and the chilling setting that was growing in the silence that followed after his question was not helpful in his plight.
Admin merely smiled innocently at his query, she brought her hands and clasped them in front of her as she answered his questions, “You must be referring to Miss Zen, yes it is a little shame she isn’t doing as well as her peers, she must be more suitable as an actual scout than a ranger, but that isn’t the matter of the question. To answer your first question…” she paused as she seemed to think, an empty gesture to seem more human, “There is no definite answer, some people are just not suited for certain classes, they must simply try to change into something better for themselves, nothing to it. At least nothing that can be quantified.”
Or so she said. It wasn’t what he had hoped to hear, but it was what he expected.
And the other matter?
Smiling at the telepathic communication, she answered, “Unfortunately, it is not unheard of for certain individuals to supersede the limits the System carefully places within itself, although it is an anomaly amongst anomalies.”
At this response, both rogues’ perked up, talk of going past the limits of the System was something that would interest anyone.
“There have been very few individuals like this in the past, through unknown means, they possess the ability to go past the assistance that the System provides. They are able to perform better than the System,” she spoke with faux exasperation, “They threaten the balance of this world through their unusual strength, the System rewards the killing of these individuals, although not a single one has been ever killed.”
Rewards the killing of them? Because they cause an imbalance?
“Precisely, as I said, these people are extremely dangerous, so even if the rewards can be enticing, I suggest you don’t try anything if you are unfortunate enough to find one,” she continued, “The System denotes them with the Title of Calamity, they break the very fabric of this beautiful world.”
The new information was concerning to hear, Damien could understand why they would be called calamities, if they had the ability to break the rules of the System, then there was no telling what sort of damage they could do.
“And these Calamities, how many are there out there?”
It was an important question, after all even if Admin said they were rare, in the supposed vastness of Anathum, extremely rare might still be a few thousand. Meeting one of these dangerous people randomly would be bad news.
Admin waved her hands around in dismissal, “No need to worry about that, there have only been five Calamities ever reported. Four of these are found regularly on the top of the Frontier Leaderboard, and although the last one is not a Primer, much less a Nex Primer, she was last spotted in the upper Levels. There is no need to worry about stumbling upon these.”
The thought that someone so dangerous could simply disappear out of the radar was concerning to Damien, to say the least, “She just disappeared? Nobody knows where she went?”
Admin placated him with an explanation, “It’s not that simple, this individual is the holder of the unique class Hero, as she was making her way through the 85th Level, the Church approached her. The reports of who attacked first are muddled, but ultimately the two got into a fight outside the City Vanguard’s range. The Hero, Luma, killed one of the Church’s Nex Primers, which forced them to relent on their efforts and thus she got away. That was over ten years ago, she has not been seen since.”
Despite not being conscious for more than a month in the world of Anathum, from what he had heard from Eira, Primers were the epitome of power. If one so much as sneezed in your direction, you would be reduced to atoms. To hear that this Luma person managed to kill a Nex Primer was surprising, to say the least.
“So then-”
“I think we should get back to the lesson, I have entertained your question for a little too long now Mister Damien,” she quickly shut down Damien’s next barrage of questions.
Suppressing his frown, he quiets down and listened to Admin, the physical portion of the training was about to begin.
“Now although rogues aren’t meant to fight too many opponents at once, if the enemies are low enough rank or they aren’t numerous enough, they will still come out on top. In order to properly show you how quickly numbers can overwhelm you, you will fight ten goblins one level above your own. Please don’t worry about dying, the System will prevent your HP from reaching zero. Any volunteers?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“ME!”
Ever since the animosity between both rogues had been made verbal, Desmond had begun to develop a complex, he did everything to show Damien he was strong. Damien theorized it was an attempt to tell him that he would not be an easy prey, akin to an animal puffing up their chest to appear bigger.
“Very well Mister Desmond, please step into the field,” her eyes showed no sign of malicious intent, but Damien couldn’t help but feel that there was a sadistic nature within Admin. His suspicions of her had increased widely.
Putting that thought aside, he focused on Desmond’s fight. A strange phenomenon had been noticed by Damien with every single fight he witnessed. The effects were very subtle at first, but with each fight, it became more prominent and harder to miss.
He had noticed it at first during conversations and everyday things, every word spoken, every action and mannerism taken, he would notice it and compile it. Using all those little bits of information he was able to navigate and predict where conversations were going or how people were feeling at a given point. Initially, he thought that everyone was the same way he was, that everyone was able to analyze the situation like he was, but again and again, people would say the wrong words in their own discussions. Outcomes that could have been achieved, mutual benefits that could have been reached; it all went to waste again and again.
At this point, it quickly became apparent that his powers of observation were above the norm. However, it didn’t stop there, it went even beyond simply working on his people skills, it extended to the realm of his fighting ability.
His eyes tracked every move Desmond made, every swing his blade committed, every wasted movement, every step, and every strike. Same for the goblins, all their sloppy wide attacks, their frantic claws, and even their infernal wails, nothing was lost on him.
Deconstructing their attack patterns, scrutinizing their effectiveness, and converting them into something he could use. It all happened in a matter of seconds, with each fight he observed, with each aggression that came his way, his combat fortitude grew stronger and refined.
It culminated yesterday, he was able to observe Admin perform that true strike, her fluid motion was a perfect attack with no wasted energy, he saw it and he learned. He was able to mimic that perfect attack despite only seeing it once.
Something within him was different from the others, whatever the reason for the ability, he was growing stronger than what was considered normal. Even worse, he was growing stronger in ways that ignored the parameters imposed by the System. It was not quite yet to the point where he could say that his growth disregarded the hard limits set by the System, but it was dangerously close to it. If he was not careful, he could be slapped with a Calamity label.
His ever-increasing suspicion for Admin spiked to higher levels, she was the one who had led the conversation into talk about that topic, one he didn’t even know existed. Perhaps it was his advanced analysis that was finding something he was not yet able to see, or maybe he was starting to lose his mind, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. It felt as though someone was using him as a pawn, and Admin was his prime suspect.
Unfortunately, there was neither crime nor transgression to look into, it was all in his head.
Just like Admin had said, Desmond was quickly overrun by the little horde of goblins. The System made it so starter rogues had attacks that cost high MP and SP so, despite their high attack values, they would grow tired quickly and thus be unfit to fight a mob.
After taking out four of the ill-equipped goblins, Desmond was finally too tired from using his skills and the onslaught of the little green men to fight back. The small daggers they wield stabbed into his abdomen and legs, the blood-curdling screams that were unleashed were nothing but uncomfortable to Damien’s ears.
Desmond’s HP was quickly dropping, as the monsters cackled at their victory, a tremendous white light exploded with Desmond’s screaming form at the center. The intensity of the sudden intrusion broke Damien’s focus and caused him to shield his eyes.
At first, the screaming stopped, then so did the light.
Looking at the center of the stone field, the kneeling form of the hard-breathing Desmond was revealed. His previous wounds were now completely gone, even the holes in his armor were mended. If it were not for the blood on the floor then Damien might even consider the fact he imagined it all.
“That was very good Mister Desmond, I hope you learned a valuable lesson from this. You learn best from experience after all,” Admin broke the silence.
Despite her words of recognition, Desmond did not respond, he seemed to be more focused on the ground than with Admin. Even after a minute of silence, he refused to move from his position in the middle of the room.
Frowning at the development, Admin gestured with her hand. The small wave of her fingers was all it took for Desmond to disappear from the room, “It seems that Mister Desmond suffered a little mental damage from coming close to death, I would have assumed he was more prepared for that when he so bravely volunteered. Rest assured we will heal him as good as new!”
Her fake cheer held no effect on Damien, he was more focused on his thoughts.
Even after thinking all this, you still won’t answer?
Admin merely smiled, “I believe it's your turn Mister Damien, please step to the center of the room.”
Knowing that arguing or trying to dig deeper would not yield any results, Damien simply stood up from his chair and went to the center of the room. He was excited for the fight anyway, Admin said that the goblins were going to be one level above him, that should be enough for the boost from the Bold Title to activate.
The ten goblins materialized all around Damien, each one with the same feral look in their eyes, he picked up his sword and held the grip strongly with his right hand. Feeling the boost that the Bold Title brought, he angled his sword diagonally with his body like he had seen Eira do, it was an overall good way to defend so he simply waited for the attacks.
Sparring with Eira, being attacked by his fellow rogues, it all came back to him. How to move and how to attack, the way the goblins moved when they fought Desmond just prior, it all was fresh on his mind.
“AHHRG!” came the first howl of a goblin as it ran at him, his small dagger had less reach than his sword, but it would be harder to block or deflect.
Still, his composure was more than enough to deal with the sloppy attack, without overextending himself, he moved his blade with his wrist, effectively throwing the goblin off balance. He would have taken the opportunity to slash the green little thing’s throat, but the next goblin was already attacking. The wide swing was exactly like he had seen with Desmond.
This is too easy.
Knowing how the attack would be coming, he did not even need to deflect it, he merely moved an inch from his left and saw the blade swing and miss. The next two goblins performed similar attacks, each one more predictable than the last. The longer the fight progressed, the more he was able to see the patterns and avoid them.
Although his stamina was going down, it was a rate where the goblins would tire faster than he would. The little demons placed more energy than what was necessary in each strike, he just needed for them to use more energy before he went into the offensive. As soon as they grew even a little tired, the moment their attacks grew a little slower, then he would attack.
The next three attacks came with more fury than all the previous ones. A horizontal slash, followed a few inches behind by an identical attack, and finally a swing at his feet.
His mind quickly found the best method to deal with the assault, finally releasing his tight guard, his short sword flew out vehemently without care for restraint. Letting his body flow with the upward momentum from his attack, he jumped as his sword clashed with the two horizontal attacks and the low-swing attack missed.
It would be the final true attack the goblins would be able to mount against Damien.
Not letting the power from his attack die out, he pushed the blades out of the two goblins’ hands. The surprised goblins were unable to counter the steel that went directly for their necks.
The loss of two goblins put a stop to the drive the monsters had, unlike with Desmond where the four goblins died with sufficient time between each other to not cause a feeling of panic in the monsters, losing two in such a short time activated their instinct to run away.
The moment a single goblin turned his back on Damien to run away, the fight was over.
The only advantage the little beasts had was their number, which was useless if they did not attack in unison. Once Damien took that from them, they became easy pickings. His sword swung down without mercy, each attack would cleave a goblin in two, and the soon the fight turned into a bloody massacre.
Despite the ease of the fight, Damien’s attacks never lost their carefulness. His sword continued to move with enough room for a sudden change in direction, just in case the goblins would be able to calm down and make a last effort to kill him.
However it was for naught, in the blink of an eye, the goblins which had been delivering non-stop attacks, were on the receiving end of a bloody blade. The fight was over.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Lateo Jump Lvl 1: Move between the shadows and the light. Short distance teleport which brings you into the back of your target, a successive uninterrupted attack will deal 200% damage and stun the target.