CHAPTER 6
Ander dressed even though his clothes were still damp as a light drizzle had started. He quickly scattered his fire, causing it to go out and retreated into his cave. There he sat down and activated his Walker of Memories skill. He made his way through the void searching for what he needed. Soon a single strand of beads floated before him. This strand gave him a sense of power and finesse. It belonged to a weapons master of great renown and ability. Ander was going to try something different this time. Common and uncommon abilities were all well and good, but he had an epic ability and more epic abilities would be really cool. So with this intent, Ander focused on a bead in the middle of the strand.
. . .
Senoc flowed perfectly through the forms. The sword in his right hand swung in perfect circles while the spear in his other jabbed forward in time. Senoc’s mind was still, empty, in a way that only practice could accomplish. It was the only way he could get peace nowadays. Senoc continued to practice. Sword and spear was not a popular combination, and for good reason. It was hard to pull off. That said, it was a terrifying combination when used properly. Eventually Senoc stopped, covered in sweat and the dust of the training yard. Walking over to a barrel under the eave of a building, he pulled out a ladle left there for the purpose and drank. He then poured water over his body, giving himself a good clean.
“Well done as always Senoc. You are a tribute to Lord Astar and to your family.” Senoc looked up to see a man in brown robes walking toward him.
“Brother Michael, what brings you to such a rough place as this?” Senoc grinned at the other man.
“Oh you know. The Lord’s work requires me to consort with all sorts of ruffians.” Michael sighed dramatically. “What kind of form was that by the way? It looked like you were trying to practice how to drown properly.”
“I will have you know those forms were an ancient technique given to me by an old dying man who wished for nothing more than to pass on his secrets before he passed away.” Michael gave Senoc a level stare.
“You made them up.”
“I totally made them up. No one uses a sword and a spear. It's absolutely ridiculous.” Senoc laughed. “However it does give an enemy something they don't expect.”
“So I assume you are still trying to upgrade your weapons master skill.” Michael stated.
“Yes. Just because I got the weapons master skill doesn’t mean that there isn’t more to improve.”
“You could just learn a bit of magic. There are a lot of fighters out there that are just as effective as you with half the skill because they can make their sword light on fire.”
“We have had this conversation before, Brother Michael.” Senoc gave Michael a level stare. “I am no mage. I will not use a crutch where I could have skill. Maybe after I upgrade my Weapons Master skill I will learn a bit of magic but not before.”
“Well in that case, I should tell you what I have discovered.” Senoc went from stern to eager in a second.
“You know the proper evolution of Weapon Master?” Senoc asked.
“Not as such. I actually have come to believe that there is no evolution to Weapon Master.” At Michael’s words, Senoc deflated. “That said, There is another possibility.”
“What is that?” Senoc said, defeated.
“You can create a new skill.” The two men stared at each other for a moment.
“Is that really possible?”
“I believe so.”
“What do I have to do?” Senoc stepped back onto the training ground.
“So this is going to work something like a skill combination, like when you combined your weapon skills into Weapons Master. However you will have to add additional intent into the creation. Tell your skills what you want them to become. I would suggest that you combine Weapons Master with Fleet Footwork, Quick Dodge, and Parry. Then tell them how they should combine.” Michael stopped to watch Senoc stare blankly into the distance.
“So I need to give them direction huh?” Michael didn’t answer, letting Senoc work through it on his own. Senoc snatched up a longsword, and moved into an advanced kata, moving smoothly and effortlessly. His mind cleared and all that was left were the skills he wanted. Weapons Master, Fleet Footwork, Quick Dodge, and Parry. After a moment he also added Sprint and Advanced Tactics to the mix. As Senoc moved he felt the skills, felt how the power of them flowed through his body and mind. He felt his speed, his ability to be everywhere on the battlefield, the time he had used a gust of wind to drive home a particularly brutal attack.
Congratulations! You have created a new skill!
Level averaged between contributing skills
Skill: Way of the Wind
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Legendary
You are one with the cutting wind. This skill grants mastery over any weapon or combination of weapons that you can hold. The wind flows with you allowing you to move without impediment wherever you wish giving you unmatched flexibility in combat. The wind is a part of you. You can perceive what an enemy does while you both touch the wind. This grants a sphere of perception that grows with skill level. You may expend mana to boost your attacks and movement with the force of the wind. This is not a spell and as such cannot be counterspelled and is not affected by an antimagic field.
Congratulations! Skill: Way of the Wind is level 126!
Congratulations! You are a novice in Skill: Way of the Wind!
You can use the wind to allow you to jump higher and farther than you could before! Effect increases with skill level.
Congratulations! You are a Journeyman in Skill: Way of the Wind!
You can take limited steps on the air itself. Steps increase per ten skill levels. Steps reset when you land on the ground.
Congratulations You are an Adept in Skill: Way of the Wind!
You have the power of limited flight. Duration starts at five seconds and goes up with skill level. Duration resets when stepping on the wind.
Congratulations! You are an Expert in Skill: Way of the Wind!
Flight duration greatly increased. You gain the ability to dash up to thirty feet in an instant from either the ground or a windstep.
Congratulations! You are a master in Skill: Way of the Wind!
You can now fly as long as you have mana to fuel it. Mana costs significantly reduced. Flight dexterity greatly increased.
Michael watched in amazement a Senoc floated into the air on a current of wind, whooping and laughing in delight.
. . .
Ander came out of his trance in complete awe and checked his notifications immediately. To his disappointment there was nothing there. But he could feel the immense power of the skill, feel it inside of him. He picked up his longsword and went back outside, and started to perform a kata. It was the same kata that Senoc had performed, and while he was clumsy in comparison, he was able to do it. He could feel the wind flowing around him, moving with him.
Congratulations! You have gained Skill: Way of the Wind
Skill: Way of the Wind is level 1.
Skill: Way of the Wind
Legendary
You are one with the cutting wind. This skill grants mastery over any weapon or combination of weapons that you can hold. The wind flows with you allowing you to move without impediment wherever you wish giving you unmatched flexibility in combat. The wind is a part of you. You can perceive what an enemy does while you both touch the wind. This grants a sphere of perception that grows with skill level. You may expend mana to boost your attacks and movement with the force of the wind. This is not a spell and as such cannot be counterspelled and is not affected by an antimagic field.
Suddenly Ander could move. He jumped from boulder to boulder slashing with his sword feeling the wind guide him into place. He exerted himself far beyond when he should have lost his breath but the wind forced itself into his lungs, energizing him in a way he had never known before. When he was finally tired, he sat down on a rock and felt the wind. Up to a few feet away he could feel the leaves of the plants and the moss and the rocks. Anywhere where the air could touch both him and the object of his scrutiny he could sense with incredible fidelity.
Congratulations! Skill: Way of the Wind has leveled up!
Skill: Way of the Wind is level 2.
And with that, Ander felt his perception expand. It was only by a few inches in all directions, but it was a definite increase. Ander walked down the tunnel to the pond and was delighted to see that he could clearly perceive the walls of the tunnel. Moreover, it seemed as though his perception was based on volume, meaning when the walls got close, squeezing his sphere, it extended farther down the tunnel.
Ander returned to his campsite and retrieved his longsword. It felt light and good in his hand. He could feel the mastery that the skill granted. It wasn’t as much as he would have liked, but he was certainly proficient. He decided that he would leave the broken shield and the shortsword behind, but he did take his knife. He supposed that hunting would be better done with the bow and arrows, but the sword felt so good in his hand and the boars were aggressive enough. Ander made his way slowly down the ravine, climbing over boulders and through narrow passageways.. He was filled with trepidation, but the wind curling about him gave him an odd confidence as he made his way over boulders and pushed his way through plants.
Ander quickly passed the point where he had scouted to the previous day, and found that not far past that point the chasm started to widen out. The top got two to three times as wide as where he camped, but the bottom was where the interesting things lay. The bottom of the chasm seemed to intersect with some sort of cave system that created a lot more space down below. It was here that Ander found more evidence of boars and other wildlife.
After a bit of searching, Ander found a set of fresh tracks. He followed them for a bit, going into the caves for a short while until the light started to dim. It was there, at the edge of vision, that Ander found a den. Inside was a small herd of wild pigs with one giant boar surrounded by four giant sows. A number of piglets ran around, many suckling at their mothers' teats.
The boar immediately spotted Ander and charged straight at him as piglets squealed in terror. Ander jumped to the side, barely missing getting impaled again by the boar. As the boar passed, Ander brought his longsword down in a brutal chop on the boar’s back which did absolutely nothing. The boar slid to a stop and flipped back around in an impressively short amount of time. The boar charged again, and Ander dodged, but the boar whipped its head to the side to tear a gash in Ander’s hip. Ander bellowed in pain and stabbed down with his sword, willing the wind to help his attack. The blade sunk deep into the boar’s neck before it was ripped out of his hands with the boar’s momentum. Again the boar stopped and turned around, and Ander could see his sword sticking hilt deep into the boar’s neck, and the boar was rasping in and out in the most horrible way. The boar charged again, a wild look in its eyes, but that was when the sword’s hilt caught in a sturdy loop of root hanging from the ceiling of the cave. The sword wrenched in the boar’s neck causing it to fall over in utter agony.
Ander approached the boar carefully as it thrashed about, giving it’s tusks wide berth as he circled to grab his sword. He ripped it out of the beast’s neck and with a quick slash, he cut open the boar’s throat entirely. The thrashing stopped shortly thereafter. With that, Ander cleaned and sheathed his sword. He then stared at the boar. It was bigger than the last one, and the last one was as tall as a pony and just as wide. This one could have made a mount. Still, he didn’t want to give up on having good boar meat for dinner. Ander lifted the boar’s head, and was surprised to find it rather light. Ander checked inside the wound on the boar’s neck and found it was every bit as dense as you might expect from a boar the size of a small car. Ander went to the main body. He found it heavy, but really more cumbersome than anything.
The only thing he could think was that his stats were just that awesome.
To make things a little easier he sliced open the boar’s belly with one great swing of his sword, causing the offal to spill out onto the moss of the ground. With a few short hacks of his blade, Ander severed the remaining pieces of the guts and left them behind as he started to drag the boar back to camp.