Chapter 6: The Redo
The crystal had weighed quite a bit, requiring more help from Martin just to get it off of the former Kobloid Chief. When they got it moved, they all realized something. What the ‘rock falls, boss dies’ approach had in efficiency, it lacked in leaving behind intact materials. The armor was a wreck, the mace was folded in two, and the thing’s teeth were shattered.
Risa was pleased to see that Sammi was angry with Martin as well, albeit a bit more politely than she would have put it. “Young Master Martin, I do think the rest of the party could have used some of that experience, don’t you?” Martin was sheepish. “I hadn’t fought in a cave dungeon before, I was literally in my element. I got excited. I do apologize. Especially to you, Risa. I brought you here to harvest the boss’s materials, and then ruined them all.”
Risa honestly hadn’t expected a young noble to apologize for anything. His explanation mollified her a bit, she probably would have been over-exited as well. “It’s alright, Martin. You showed me that I have more to learn before I can expect to match up with trained mages. How long will you be staying in Jarthak’s Rest?”
Martin looked thoughtful. “Pre- uh, our third member, is the one to decide that. Though with how excited he was about that tree bark, I expect we will be here for a few more days at least. Why?” Risa considered. “Well, I thought we… worked well together? So maybe we could have a do-over and try for the boss again sometime?” Risa knew she was basically asking to be carried to the boss once more, but she was hoping Martin would feel at least a little bad about the experience and money she lost out on.
Martin pondered that, and eventually nodded. “Yeah, I can buy another boss slot in a couple days, so we can do that. But! I won’t be using my magic as much the second time. Only if someone is actually in danger. Sammi, consider this a training exercise for if I run low on mana.” Sammi looked a little annoyed but could do nothing but agree.
As they made their way out of the dungeon, they found another hunter working on the earlier kobloids, who had already reformed. The work of clearing a dungeon was never done. They gave the shield user a nod, which she returned in kind, and then exited back into the village. The guard on duty, the same one from last time, gave them an odd look, probably because they had done the boss run but had returned with no materials to speak of.
They agreed to meet at the Guild in two days’ time, as the prices for buying back-to-back boss runs were purposely inflated to avoid one group hogging them. Risa made the walk towards Morgin’s compound. As per her usual routine, she meditated alongside him, once again not getting the official skill for it, and then came out of it to see he was gone.
This time he didn’t announce himself, but she could quite easily guess he was behind her. She decided to run forward a bit before turning around, forcing him to close the gap between them. She parried his first strike, then without even thinking about it moved to block his second. She only noticed after doing it that he had switched hands: the first strike came from his left hand, while the second came from his right. Realizing she had outplayed him, she then brought her sword up to his neck and made the same ‘boop’ sound that he loved to make. Morgin chuckled and said something. Risa didn’t hear it though, because at that exact moment, a beautiful set of words entered her mind.
New Skill (Basic Awareness) Unlocked
“YES!” Morgin tilted his head. “Oh? Could it be that you have succeeded?” Risa was overjoyed. “Basic Awareness! I finally did it!” Morgin nodded. “You are quite proficient in learning, then. Though perhaps some credit can be given to my teachings…” Risa gave the man a hug. “Of course, Master, I owe everything to you.” Morgin wryly smiled. “Aha, don’t sell yourself too short either, my dear Pupil. I have attempted to teach students before you, and they had half of your drive to learn at best. If I had more like you, I would be well on my way to Basic Instruction by now.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
They sparred for a while, in order to do more testing of the skill. Risa wasn’t able to predict the future by any means, but she could feel the changes in the air when an attack was coming her way. If she opened her eyes and looked, the skill improved even more: she could not only guess *when* Morgin was going to attack, but *how*. At least when he wasn’t going for a feint. The skill wasn’t easy to have on at all times, though. While it didn’t use stamina per-se, it was taxing on the mind. Still, if it was between that and death, Risa would certainly take the former.
She then had to come back down to earth when she arrived at her own ramshackle home and had to tell her father she made no money today. His berating was almost enough to counteract the joy of learning a new skill. Almost. She spent the off day going into the Proving Ground and trying to pick out the movements of the scouts. They weren’t as sneaky as Morgin could be, but it was still good practice. She also went and gave the final 5 warriors a bit more of a fair fight, although not too fair. She was able to pull 2 of them away and slit their throats before the other 3 noticed. Then, it was a bit of a fight, but her efforts in predicting where to parry paid off.
Basic Awareness Level Up (1 –> 2)
It was truly annoying to her that combat with monsters leveled things up so much faster than training with the exact same movements. Yes, there was a far greater penalty for failure, but why did the Aleph reward life-or-death combat above all things? Greater scholars than she had asked that question with no answer in sight.
Regardless, Risa sold another 6 sets of kobloid materials to a thankful Aaron, as well as buying a yellow-tinged Kobloid’s Strength potion in case of emergencies. The potion supposedly had the same effect as her own Basic Strength Infusion skill, but she was curious what would happen if she used both at the same time. Then it was a simple matter of training her new skill at Morgin’s place and returning home to give her father some food and coin. He didn’t even seem to remember that he yelled at her yesterday.
Finally, it was time to regroup with Martin and Sammi. She waited for not too long at a table in the Guild when the two arrived with the boss run certificate. Thankfully, they didn’t yell it out like last time, which showed that they were interested in partying with her, rather than any random warrior. At least, so she hoped. As they went across the village, she mentioned quite happily that she just got Basic Awareness through training alone. Sammi looked at Risa in a new light, as she had also been training that skill, and knew how hard it could be. Martin was politely supportive, although seemingly not as impressed.
When they entered the dungeon, Martin kept his promise to let Sammi and Risa handle their own battles. Sammi took point, to shoot any warriors that came their way, while Risa hung back, to practice her awareness by catching scouts. Martin was in the middle, keeping a close eye on Sammi, no doubt judging her performance.
Risa had a plan for the final 5 warriors. First, Sammi snuck to an opposite corner of the room and shot one of the warriors in the head, killing it instantly. Risa followed up by slicing off the head of another. With the remaining 3 warriors being flanked, it was only a matter of time before they perished, no Earth Manipulation required. Martin nodded and said, “Good work.” Then, it was time to face the boss once more, properly this time.
Interestingly, as opposed to one giant crystal hanging from the ceiling, there were 4 hanging in the corners and one over the entrance. Risa had heard of dungeons that ‘healed’ damage done to their structures over time but hadn’t known they could alter things like this. Martin wasn’t terribly surprised, though. “Yeah, dungeons aren’t fully intelligent, usually, but they know a glaring weakness when they see one. It takes them a lot of mana, but they can restructure themselves if they need to. Tricks like the one I pulled typically only work once.”
Risa was happy that Martin couldn’t squish their loot again, but also a little worried that there wasn’t a ‘get out of boss fight free’ card to use if needed. But nothing to it but to approach the Chief. It looked a little different then Risa remembered it, honestly. She thought it had more armor, and its mace actually looked more like… like a… staff like Martin’s? Then the ‘mace’ started to glow. Risa’s Basic Awareness suddenly went into overdrive.
“It’s going to-!” She yelled to her teammates, before the giant crystal hanging by the entrance slammed down, trapping them inside.