Chapter 10: The Goodbyes

Risa came to while being carried home by her friends. Her awakening startled them into dropping her, much to her displeasure. “Risa, are you okay?”, asked Martin after helping her up. “Yeah, I’m alright. Health at 100% and everything.” “What happened, then? You said the name of your skill and just… passed out!”

Risa was confused. “Wait, how long has it been since that happened?” “Er, maybe 15 minutes, why?” Risa blinked many times. “Martin, I was wandering the Hidden World for what felt like several hours…” Now it was Martin’s turn to blink. “You were… somewhere else? For HOURS? Are you sure you weren’t just dreaming something?”

Risa considered that. “At first it did feel like a dream, yeah. There was just an empty wasteland… but I think there’s more to it than that. At the very end, just as my mana hit 0%, I saw… you and Sammi. But you were frozen, not moving at all. I thought you were statues, but what if it was me who was thinking very quickly?”

Sammi was quick to ask: “Young Master Martin, have you heard of any spells that can accelerate a person’s thoughts?” Martin nodded. “I… have, although they are really only there for the higher-level warriors to react to things quickly. That Potion of Swiftness you took is also supposed to have that sort of effect… although, according to that alchemist, that’s the part his potion was missing…

Risa gasped. “The potion! The whole time through that battle I was not only fighting the Shaman, but also the effects of that potion! I was moving so fast, it was almost impossible to keep everything straight… but I couldn’t slow down, so I just had to try and think as fast as possible!” Martin was thoughtful. “That’s great, but… as far as I’m aware, the Thought Acceleration skills AREN’T mana skills. Sometimes mages pick them up, but by themselves they shouldn’t be able to unlock your mana pool.”

Risa considered that. “Well, I wasn’t JUST thinking quickly. I was also in this strange place, surrounded by mountains. I had to go through a tunnel that was somehow there in order to see you and Sammi. The whole time, I was getting strange feelings, like the mountains were more real than the rest of the world. And as I was going through the tunnel, I simultaneously felt like I was going to meet someone incredibly powerful, and someone else who wanted me to slow my journey down. I didn’t see either of them, though, just you two.”

Martin considered his next words carefully. “You were surrounded by barriers of rock on all sides… except for one bit with a hole… which the two of us were waiting behind? Doesn’t that sound exactly like what we had setup around you, just, er, bigger?” Risa opened her mouth, then closed it, several times. She eventually ran back to where they had been testing. “Hey, hold on a second!”, said Sammi, confused.

Risa made it back, and sure enough, she had used the skill while standing in the middle of a bunch of chest-high earthen barriers that sort of resembled mountains, and the hole Martin left for viewing was something like a tunnel through one of those mountains. The skill had made the world larger? Or… her, smaller?

When Sammi and Martin arrived, Risa was quick to ask some further questions. “Did you see me try and walk towards the place you two were watching from, at all?” Sammi shook her head. “No, it was like we said, you activated the skill and just… passed out from mana exhaustion. It was practically instant.”

Risa’s mind was racing. She had been projecting her spirit around, in a world that resembled her own but was much bigger… but could that explain the strange sensations she had while she was there? The feeling of power and the feeling of exhaustion… wait. WAIT. The first feeling wasn’t of ‘power’ per se, it was of someone who had created the mountains around her. Literally speaking, that was Martin. And the feeling of exhaustion… Sammi had a skill that cursed people to lose mana and stamina!

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Risa explained her thoughts to the other two. Sammi was a little confused, but Martin was thinking things through. “So, it’s some kind of advanced Mana Sense that’s intuitive and obtuse at the same time… oh, was that what let you sense the Crystal Shaman’s last attack?” Risa nodded along with him. “Yeah, I think it was! I saw something to do with crystals, and when everything moved, that’s when I dodged!”

“I have to research this further at the Academy.”, said Martin. “This skill is like nothing I’ve heard of before, it’s like a mishmash of a bunch of other skills at once. Thought Acceleration, Mana Sense, and some weird kind of… mental projection. I’m sure there will be scholars lining up to study what this skill is… if you can get a read on a monster’s magic or skills before they use them, that could save lives.”

Risa was thrilled to continue experimenting, but she was out of mana, and before long it was time for Martin and Sammi to go back to Earl Layborne’s lands. While Count Jarthak, who owned the lands the village was on, was a little hands-off in his ruling, he would probably take some offense at the heir of a different noble family grabbing some materials from one of his dungeons. It was best for the Laybornes to leave under the cover of night while they still were un-noticed.

Preston did have one surprise for her, however. Risa hadn’t seen, being unconscious at the time, but Martin brought the Crystal Shaman’s staff out of the Proving Ground. It was similar to Martin’s Staff of Orderly Earth, which lowered the mana cost of Earth Manipulation and similar skills, but instead did the same for Crystal Creation and Crystal Manipulation. While it wasn’t supremely powerful, Preston had used a messenger to negotiate a price for it with a gemsmith at the Academy of Creation.

“Martin tells me that when he announced his little adventure, he said the proceeds would be split evenly…”, said Preston. Risa blinked. “Uh, yeah, I guess he did.” “Well, it cannot be said that we nobles do not keep our word, even foolish ones like my brother.” Martin, off to the side, sighed. Risa was excited. She might get a decent amount of silver out of this. “The price for the staff was 21 gold coins. Therefore, you and Squire Sammi will receive 7 gold each.”

Sammi had a large grin show up on her face, but Risa was taken aback. “S-seven gold? GOLD!? That’s… that’s too much!” Preston shook his head. “I know that it is quite a sum for a small village such as yours, but it is certainly more than earned for saving my brother’s life from his own stupidity.” Risa gulped. “I don’t know where to put that much money… where could I possibly keep it safe?” Risa thought of her father, who would probably be able to drink himself to death in short order if he found that much coin.

Sammi was the one who answered that question. “The Hunter’s Guild has a built-in bank for its members. Stealing from a hunter is one thing, but stealing from a hunter’s account would set the entire Guild on top of you. It costs half a gold to set one up, but Martin and I use ours all the time.” Risa had heard about this function when she joined but had put it out of her mind when she heard about the required 50 silver deposit. “R-right, the Guild. I forgot. I… guess I’ll not decline, then.”

Preston nodded, and gave her a coin purse, which she quickly tucked into her backpack with the speed of an experienced hunter. While it was somewhat late, she didn’t think any thieves would be about just yet… but better safe than sorry. She hoped nobody heard her little outburst about ‘GOLD!?’.

It was then time to say goodbyes. “Thank you, all three of you. The circumstances may not have turned out ideally, but I’ve gained a lot from having known all of you.” Preston just nodded, but Sammi declared, “You saved our lives in a way I’m not sure most people at our level could have managed. With your dedication to the art of hunting, I’m sure you’ll go far. We’ll try and see about getting you into an Academy.” Preston cocked his head at that but didn’t ask any questions.

Martin was last. “My brother keeps calling me a fool for wandering off, and I don’t think he’s entirely right… but maybe he’s not entirely wrong, either. Dungeoneering is a tricky business, and I think you’re better at it than most of the nobles I know, including myself. I think I gained as much from you as you gained from us. I’ll send you a messenger once I do some research into your new skill. But until then… take care, Risa.”

And with that, the trio walked off, leaving Risa to ponder what to do next.