Chapter 3: The Master

Risa’s next location was Morgin’s house, where she found the white-haired man meditating. Apparently, Meditation was the stamina equivalent of the Mana Absorption skill. It was a nice boost to stamina regeneration at the cost of being unable to fight or move. Unlike mana, stamina could also be regenerated by sleeping or eating, but Meditation was apparently far more efficient, and could greatly reduce the penalty for going under 50% stamina, as well as somewhat reduce the higher penalty for going under 10%. Though, going under 10% also made someone very much want to go to sleep, which despite appearances is not conducive to meditation.

Risa had been trying to get the Basic Mediation skill herself, as it would let her delve dungeons for longer periods of time. However, it was apparently much harder to teach than even the swordsmanship skill she already learned, so she wasn’t expecting much. Still, she sat down next to Morgin and got in the same lotus position.

As she attempted to clear her mind, she was once again thinking about why ‘true’ skills were so hard to acquire. In theory she was already quite good at sword fighting by the time she got the actual, recognized skill for it. Morgin didn’t have all the answers, but he had some.

As he hammered into her, again and again, a skill did not measure the maximum ability of a person. Instead, it was the minimum. Someone with Level 3 swordsmanship still had the potential to fight at a Level 4’s ability, or higher, but they would have to work for it. If they DIDN’T work for it, though, the skill would take over, letting the person act at the skill’s minimum and no lower. Risa thought it was a little creepy to put it that way, but Morgin was more practical about it. It was ‘just how things worked’, he said.

Another odd fact about skills was that they advanced much faster when in dangerous situations. For combat skills, this made a certain amount of sense, but strangely a distinction could be found between when a person is sparring and when they are fighting to the death, even if they used the skills in the exact same way. Even stranger was that crafting skills followed some of the same rules. While crafting items certainly got you some experience, turning around and using those self-made items in combat leveled up the crafting skill far faster.

Then there was the idea that skills could be GAINED far faster when in danger. If Risa were to go into the Blind Forest right now and try to meditate, there would be a good chance of her getting the skill in half an hour. Of course, that would be around 29 minutes after she was dispatched by one of the strange eyeless animals that inhabited the magically darkened dungeon. And so, she stuck to safer methods of getting the skill, even if those methods were… quite a bit less effective. She had been trying to learn Basic Meditation even before she started taking swordsmanship lessons, and yet had nothing on her skills panel to show from it.

She eventually decided she was too impatient to meditate tonight and stood up. She was only a little surprised that Morgin had already moved from his spot without her noticing. The man denied having a skill to soften his footsteps, but he could be surprisingly quiet when given the chance. Come to think of it, if he noticed her trying to meditate next to him, that means he might be waiting to-

“Hello, Pupil.”

Risa drew her sword against the dulled blade she already knew was coming from behind. Basic Awareness was a standard skill in many warriors’ builds, but it usually required diving into dangerous monster dens with your eyes closed and trying to guess where the creatures were. In place of that, Risa had asked for an alternate training method. She somewhat regretted it. Morgin seemed to delight in attacking her at strange times, rarely leaving more than a bruise, but often bruising Risa’s pride. It took 6 months before she could reliably try to dodge the attacks (keyword there being try) and 6 more months before she could draw her sword to block. Lately she had been getting pretty good at it, though, even when Morgin didn’t announce himself like that. So why…

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

From her Master’s robe, his left hand emerged, carrying a second training sword. Too focused on blocking the first blade, Risa was completely unprepared to block the second. Rather than hit her, Morgin brought the tip of the blade to Risa’s throat. He made a little “boop” sound, and Risa knew that meant he considered her ‘dead’. She sighed.

“I did not know you could duel wield your swords, Master”. Morgin chuckled. “Strictly speaking, anyone with more than one weapon at hand can ‘dual wield’. It is true I lack an actual skill for such things, but you would do well to remember an attack doesn’t need aid from the Aleph to be deadly. Higher level monsters are certainly capable of using such tricks, so you should be aware of that.” Risa nodded. “Thank you, Master. I suppose our awareness training has entered its next phase?” “I would suppose so as well, yes. Make no mistake, you ARE improving.”

“Yes, Master. Just today, I leveled up my Basic Swordsmanship skill as well as my primary level.” Morgin smiled. “Oh, did you now? You’ll have to show me at some point. I imagine the Proving Ground holds less challenge for you now?” “Yes, Master. I collected so many teeth and claws that the alchemist can’t even use them all.” “Ah, a good problem for an alchemist to have. I suppose you look for greater challenge now, yes?”

Risa couldn’t hide much from Morgin. “Yes, I… tomorrow I wish to challenge the boss of the Proving Ground. The normal kobloids can barely hit me anymore, I don’t think I will level from them again any time soon.” Morgin looked thoughtful. “Taking on a boss monster all by yourself is a bad habit to get into, even if I think you could manage it in this case. You should find a teammate, or even a party, to aid you. Do that and I give you my blessing to fight the Chief.”

Risa was somewhat taken aback. She had been hunting solo for some time now, and her Master had never brought this up. “Master, I don’t think-“ “This is another test, Risa. I cannot always be there to protect you; you need allies beyond this old swordsman. People arrive in this village to take on the Proving Ground all the time, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone, yes?” Risa looked down, dejectedly. “Yes, Master.” Morgin nodded. “Good. And remember, I have friends in the guard. If you go in that dungeon tomorrow alone, I will know.” “I-I wouldn’t dream of trying to trick you, Master!”, said Risa, who had been planning on doing exactly that. Morgin just smiled.

After discussing her fights with the kobloids for a short while, Risa took her leave. While Morgin had offered to let her stay at his guest room, she knew someone had to keep an eye on her father. Even if she wished it didn’t have to be her. She arrived at her house (she wouldn’t really call it a home) and unlocked the door. Sure enough, there were 3 new bottles on the floor, and her father was passed out on the wooden bench that passed as their couch. He didn’t even manage to get into bed this time, she noted. At least he was not facing in such a way that he would choke, should he throw up.

She tried to sneak into bed, only to hear Johann’s snoring sputter out. He always seemed to notice her when she was trying to avoid notice. “Risaaa my daughter. Issat you? Any good jobs today? Merchants got you hauling again? Any mmm-money?” The man always seemed to forget that his daughter was a hunter now, he only seemed to remember the time when she used her Level 1 strength skill to help around the village. She didn’t know if the drink had addled his mind that much, or if he refused to accept that Risa was putting herself in danger while he did nothing.

She sighed. She had tried in the past telling him she made “no money”, but that just made him angrier and angrier, rather than pushing him to go out and earn anything on his own. “Yeah dad, I got, uh, 50 copper today.” He paused. “Fifty…. mh. Same as last time. Should still get a couplea good bottles though. Leave it on muh bed, will ya honey? And work harder tomorrow!” *Sigh* “Yeah dad, I will.”

And after that, Risa went to her own, rather threadbare bed, and went to sleep for the night.