PART I - BRONZE FRUSTRATIONS
When Callie awoke, it was still dark, but that was fine, not only because of her Darkvision, but because today was the day she was going to finally reach Bronze Tier and she was eagerly looking forward to it. She had started yesterday at IRON.941. Reynard had no doubt, with all the training they had done since then, she’d make it, and finally unlock all of those new skills the other Ranger recruits had been receiving. Hesitantly, she centered herself and sent the query.
What is my level?
LEVEL: IRON.998
That … that couldn’t be right …
What is my level?
LEVEL: IRON.998
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Callie silently mouthed, a part of her hoping her brain slug would see its error and toss in a couple more points just to get her over the threshold.
What is my level?
LEVEL: IRON.998
In response, Callie screamed silently into her pillow with just a hint of melodramatic sobbing. How could this be? She suddenly felt so far behind.
Eventually realizing there was no way she was going to get back to sleep at this point, and with little else to do, she decided to go for a stomping walk around the garden or something, rather than just lie in bed getting more-angry or depressed. She quickly did her business in the latrine before picking up her casual moccasin boots and a pair of socks, followed by tiptoeing towards the door.
“Did you get it?” Pixyl asked with a waking yawn as Callie snuck by.
“No!” Callie whispered, obvious annoyance in her words. “I missed it by two freaking points! Two!”
Pixyl groaned in sympathy. “I’m s-s-sorry. Where are you going?”
“For a walk or something.”
“I’ll come, too,” Pixyl said quickly as she started to roll out of bed.
“You really shouldn’t. I’m really crabby right now.”
Pixyl said nothing and silently slipped to the floor, picking up her own tiny boots, which she had pre-stuffed with socks when she went to sleep. She gestured for the door.
Together, they crept out of the bunkhouse into the still night air, closing the door behind them. It was still dark, save the sliver of the moon in the western sky. Not even pre-dawn lights showed to the east. But the night insects had stopped chirping, and a few bird sounds were starting to come alive, indicating dawn wasn’t too far off.
“Fucking nine nine eight,” Callie snarled in a low voice so it wouldn’t carry as she stormed ahead towards the garden. Maybe if she splashed some cold water on her face, it might help ease the hot attitude she had right now. “Nine freaking ninety-eight!” she hissed to herself again in disbelief.
Callie was the last of the five Rangers to reach Bronze Tier, or she would have been if she hadn’t missed it by two lousy, stinking, measly points. Of the Rangers, Jesca had reached Bronze on Day Three, and the others had made it the previous morning, which had been Day Four. Each had received a host of expected new skills and perks. But, in addition, each Ranger received something called a ‘melded’ skill, which seemed to be unique to each of them. Per the description, these skills were a hybrid combination of two or more other skills, perks, traits or some aspect of their race or even personality.
Now that most-everyone was at Bronze, and with some slight sympathy for the lagging Callie, Shul’an was allowed to show off his melded skill called Arrow of Darkness. This skill functioned almost the opposite of Flare, in that the arrow produced a globe of pure darkness around itself a few seconds after being loosed. They tested, finding that Darkvision would barely work through the globe of black, but Nightvision wouldn’t at all.
Kaisess had received a melded skill called Silence Shot, which produced a globe of silence that would prevent any sounds entering or leaving, and even Callie’s Gnome ears couldn’t hear anything said inside of the effect.
Jesca learned Dash, which was identical to Pixyl’s skill of the same name, allowing her a tremendous burst of running speed for a few seconds, leaving behind a streak of rapidly-fading blue mist.
Finally, Thucax acquired a unique melded skill called Disorienting Shot, which was shot into the target, the ground or other hard surface next to the target. The result was a spherical area effect that produced a momentary, high-intensity charm, affecting anyone in close proximity. Once afflicted, the targets might stagger around, hallucinate, or perhaps even strike an ally in the confusion.
As for the residents of Ogre House, Vanis and Pixyl were the first to reach Bronze Tier. They leveled up on the morning of Day Three, while everyone else made it the day after, including Tazrok, who had taken to his Druid training with an amazing intensity, bolstered by his pre-Symbiote combat prowess.
Now at Bronze Tier, Vanis received an additional Demon summoning. More interestingly, though, he now had the capability to cast his Iron Tier Lifedrain attack in reverse. Cast normally, it would drain stamina and mana from the enemy, replenishing his own, but when reversed, Vanis could sacrifice his own stamina or mana to restore the same to his target. Trainer Terrin had also informed the Warlocks that at Silver Tier, the reverse version would also be able to act as a makeshift healing spell, at the cost of both stamina and mana together. Finally, Vanis learned a unique melded skill called Aura of Threat Suppression. When channeled, it would make enemies think he and his nearby allies were less of a threat, almost like the opposite of a Taunt.
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Pixyl received a new attack called Ethereal Bomb, which launched a small sphere of energy that would stick to hard surfaces and explode when mentally triggered, or after a predetermined time had passed, as well as a skill called Mirror Image, which produced illusionary copies of herself to confuse the enemy. Surprisingly, she also received a melded skill called Furious Rage. That skill would put her into a crazy, Berserker-like fury, resulting in single-mindedly attacking her targets, forsaking any defense at all, but dealing far, far more damage. In fact, the description was nearly identical to Tazrok’s Berserking skill he’d learned before arriving at camp. According to Pixyl, the melded skill was a hybrid of both her Race and her Ethereal Manipulation perk, but Callie was sure a bit of Pixyl’s personality had to be a factor in it, too. Finally, Pixyl also received a melding of her Pixie Race and Dash skill, which resulted in a Flying Dash skill that was usable when in the air.
Xin’s first animal form, that of a fast-moving Giant Grist, was unlocked with her level-up. It looked remarkably like Bratig’s tiny Forest Grist stealth form, but was much, much larger, comparable in size to Cheena’s Leopard form. Xin’s speed and nimbleness as the Grist rivaled Cheena’s form as well, and Callie had enjoyed watching the two of them race around the training field together, able to run neck-and-neck. Xin also received a slow, mana-hungry Repair Wound spell designed for very large or delicate wounds, and an attack called Lightning Orb, which would shoot a ball of Lightning against anything solid, where it would stick and shock everything around it for several seconds. Finally, Xin could now order her Totem to summon a small Fire Elemental, fulfilling the prophecy in the picture she drew that first night. The elemental would attack as ordered, but had a limited lifespan and range it could move from the Totem. Cheena had said it would grow larger and improve at higher Tiers, and other Elemental types would become available, as well.
Tazrok, in addition to getting a mana-intensive healing spell like Xin, acquired a new ‘Travel’ form, which turned out to be a six-legged Antelope-ish animal known as a Curvax, that were vaguely similar in appearance to the small animals used to move carts around camp, but much larger. The creature was incredibly fast and nimble through the forest and undergrowth, and large enough to act as a mount for a normal-sized person. In the wild, Curvax could run at nearly top speeds for over three hours by some reports, easily surpassing over one-hundred kilometers in that time when they migrated as herds, which was even faster than Tazrok’s winged Khaprexi form could go over long distances. This speed also made them great as tamed mounts, particularly for delivering written messages and small items expeditiously. Tazrok hadn’t had a chance to test his true endurance, yet, but was eager for an opportunity. Common consensus was that he could probably reach the capital in around ten hours, with minimal, if any, resting being needed along the journey. As for said Khaprexi form, it had grown slightly larger, now about the size of a small dog and weighing about fifteen kilograms.
Defensively, Lena received a new Instinctive Block skill for her dual blade style of combat that provided yet another way to mitigate incoming attacks. Offensively, Lena’s new Throw Weapon perk would allow her to heave one of her swords at the target like a spear, or fling it like a rotating frisbee. Her Recall Weapon skill did exactly as implied, and made her weapons fly telekinetically back to her hands when called for, which Callie remembered Major Celeste demonstrating that first day they all had arrived. Finally, Lena was blessed with a new melded perk called Acrobatics, which imbued her with the knowledge of flips, rolls, jumps and other agile movements. This unique perk was a hybrid of her Race, Instinctive Dodge skill and finally her Parkour Perk, which she knew from her previous life in the criminal underworld.
Callie stomped towards the fountain, her annoyance at the world in general still evident. Stepping off the stone path and into the tall grass, the cold dew was a sudden wake-up, pulling her brain momentarily out of the fugue it was stuck in. Pixyl joined her, also still in her bare feet, and together they made fists with their toes, enjoying the feeling of the wet grass.
In the distance, Callie was able to make out the sound of someone running their direction. It wasn’t a fast run, and was very rhythmic and steady, and the source of the sound soon came into view. It was Jesca, apparently out for a jog of all things, and wearing only her underwear and a chest binder, not even wearing footwear. Her long, well-muscled limbs stood out as she stopped at the fountain, splashing water on her face and chest, before plunging her head into the stream, drenching it.
Having not noticed Callie and Pixyl, Jesca let off a surprised shriek at the sight of them. “What are you doing awake? I didn’t wake you did I? Because if I did I didn’t mean to and I’ll try to run more quietly. Oh and Callie, how does it feel to be Bronze now? Were the reveals really bad? I know when I got there I was a little surprised but really enjoyed seeing all the improvements to my current skills and then the new ones were really … cool … as you like to say, but the reveals were really tough since we get them all at once.”
Callie simply snarled at the world, fisting her toes even tighter in general anger, ripping the grass out of the ground with them.
“She d-d-didn’t get it,” Pixyl clarified.
“Two. Fricking. Points.” Callie hissed.
“Oh no!” Jesca cried, before putting her paws to her mouth. She lowered her voice again. “That’s really too bad.”
Callie left the grass, stomping over to the fountain and shoved her own head under the falling water. It was frigid and a sudden shock, and she had to resist the urge to yelp. “Two. Points.” she whispered to Jesca after pulling her wet head out, holding up two fingers on one hand, and slicking back her hair with the other.
“You’ll get it tomorrow, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, but that means two more days before I can start using all those new skills, since tomorrow is Homeday,” Callie moped. “Honestly, I feel like I’m holding the rest of you back. It’s already been one day you were waiting for just me, and now it’s another.”
“It’s fine,” Jesca said, trying to comfort her friend. “We can work on rotations with our new Bronze skills, and maybe Reynard can help you directly to make sure you make it tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know,” Callie said sullenly, hopping up on one of the stone benches. It was only now she really realized that Jesca had been out jogging and was practically nude. “What are you doing out here?”
Jesca pointed at herself. “Me? Oh I never need to sleep for more than an hour or two, so rather than just stare at the ceiling, I decided to start running in the mornings. It helps with stress and builds muscle. It’s also nice to watch the sun come up.”
“You’re wearing practically nothing,” Callie pointed out, gesturing. She had to admit to herself, Jesca’s legs definitely went all the way up. She’d seen her friend casually nude in the baths a couple times, but now that she was strategically covered and slick with water and sweat, her sex-appeal rose quite a bit. Callie could definitely see the Catkin bringing all the boys to the yard, as it were, if she wanted to. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure she had caught a couple of the guys glancing her way on a few occasions.
“Right! I know! I tried running the first time in the nude, but I got in trouble with this Dwarf on patrol for doing that and was told I have to wear something. It’s just easier to exercise without clothes and then you don’t get them all sweaty and wet. This was about the least I could wear and not get yelled at, but that Dwarf that yelled at me still gets a grouchy look on his face when he sees me out running. I saw Commandant Xera yesterday and she praised me for taking the initiative and exercising on my own, so that was really nice.”
While Jesca had been babbling, Callie dried the dew from her feet on her shirt sleeve before slipping on her socks and then her moccasin boots, Pixyl doing the same.
“You know what? Jesca had a great idea,” Callie said.
“Exercising nude?” Pixyl wondered.
“No, not that!” Callie snorted in laughter. “But watching the sun come up seems like a fine way to start the day.”
“Where are you g-g-going?” Pixyl asked as Callie slipped off her bench, walking out of the garden in the general direction of the mess tent and training grounds beyond.
“The best view of the sunrise is going to be from the bleachers up on the field.”
Pixyl and Jesca looked at each other, before both shrugged simultaneously and ran to catch up with their friend.