Chapter 30: A Taste of Defeat on Two Fronts

Sezan and Encio stepped through a portal, into the portal plaza of Sanshi proper. Since Sezan could conjure a portal there, he had evidently visited Sanshi before. Encio had not, but it didn’t show. While Sanshi’s culture varied, cities specializing in adventurer education was something he was familiar with. He had spent much of his youth in Saggia, another educational nexus.

“I’m still not sure how she’s getting here,” Encio said, glancing at Nara who was waiting a respectful distance away.

“Outworlders,” Sezan said, “they’re a fun but troublesome bunch.” Sezan’s gaze sharpened, “And she may be an outworlder, but she is not some curiosity, Encio. If you leave, it better not be because the novelty has worn off.”

“She’s my friend, grandfather. Do you have such a low opinion of me?”

“I’ve seen my fair share of talented apprentices with bright futures that developed disappointing values and personalities. You aren’t that way now, Encio, but our journeys inevitably shape us. Ride the journey, Encio, but control the changes.”

“And you’re satisfied with the way you turned out, grandfather?”

“What?” Sezan said with mock offense, “Am I a disappointing grandfather?”

“No, grandfather, you’re my aspiration.”

He pulled his grandson into a hug, “There we go. Your journey had once stopped, and you’ve chosen to restart it, into probably the most spectacular circumstances you could find. There’s no reason to walk this path if you don’t want it. But Encio, are you prepared now?”

“Grandfather, are we ever prepared for the deaths of those we care about?”

“No,” Sezan said, “Never.”

Sezan disappeared back through his portal. It was unlike Laius or Chelsea’s. It was half cast in night, half in daylight, as if seeing the day-to-night transition from planetary orbit.

“Goodbyes all finished?” Nara asked Encio as he joined her where she had been waiting. The two set off side by side, matching pace as they made their way from the portal plaza. Encio already had an idea of where to go.

“He’ll visit from time to time, no doubt. I am his favorite grandson. He just isn’t able to leave me alone.”

“Wow, you really went and said that.”

“I can’t help it, it’s the truth.”

“What’s this all really about though?” Nara asked, “This all seems a little fast.”

“You’re suspicious of the circumstances?”

“What sort of person joins another random person to form a team in a bet?”

“It’s not a conspiracy,” Encio assured, “It just has been some time since I’ve adventured.”

“So you’ve joined your strange friend who’s not even an adventurer? A rich pretty-boy like you must have party invitations so numerous they fill filing cabinets.”

“You think I’m pretty?” Encio grinned.

“That’s what you took away from that?”

“What you’ve said is all true. I am that popular,” he said, playfully waggling his eyebrows, “But you’re mistaken if you think all those invitations are even worth keeping. My family is very famous, more famous than the Arlang or the Fenhu of Sanshi.”

“More famous than the Arlang?”

The Arlang had distinguished themselves by creating adventuring compounds and branch families around the world. Their relatives formed their own teams at iron and bronze rank and grew into capable adventurers. They were well known for their competency in the field. In a world where personal power led to political power and riches, the Arlang had both. Sen Arlang wasn’t so much a scion as another relative of the Arlang set along the same path as many others.

“My family’s fame is for a few reasons, but most people only care about one main reason.”

“And what’s that?”

“Sezan Aciano is diamond rank.”

Nara’s steps stopped.

Diamond rank was the peak—most essence users never achieved diamond rank in their entire lives, let alone gold rank; ‘Most’ was even an understatement. The total number of diamond rankers in the entire world was below one hundred, represented by only a two digit number. Silver is where most essence users stopped, unable to climb the sheer cliff face of escalating challenge. Nara didn’t understand the reverence other essence users treated diamond rankers with, nor did she understand the extent of their power.

The rank was treated with near-mythical status by the people of Erras that even she had picked up on. Diamond rankers founded countries. They were walking natural disasters, if they wanted to be. The protectors of the world, slaying the strongest monsters and dimensional invaders. They lived forever, surpassing the tethers of age and mortality.

“And he’s just sitting around playing table games in some small beach town??”

“He was doing that for me. I took a break from adventuring to…recover. Can you see why most invitations are not even worth considering?”

“They just want to team up with you because of your grandfather?”

“That’s right. So, who better to team up with than my friend I play table games with?”

“Dude, that just sounds like you have no friends. Maybe I will be begging you to leave by the end of four months.”

“My grandfather was joking about that.”

“Who knows, maybe he has some personal insight?”

*****

Encio had no place to stay in Sanshi, and Nara could not take him back to Innovation’s Retreat. He rented one of the suites at a hotel tailored towards adventurers, near the Sanshi Adventure Academy. There were so many empty rooms that Nara could have stayed there if she wanted, but she wanted to maximize the training she got from Amara and the others leading up to her Adventure Society certification exam.

“This is pretty spacious,” Nara said, peeking through each room. The suite occupied half of the floor, with three large bedrooms and a large, shared living room. Even the attached kitchen was large enough for Nara who had survived on tiny apartment kitchens and university kitchenettes to feel the green pangs of envy. The whole room had an elegant wood and stone Zen theme, with artistic flower arrangements and small indoor plants that livened up the atmosphere. Large circular windows with geometric wooden grilles revealed a view of the city.

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“You have a loot power, right? You’ll be able to live like this in the future.”

“How do you know that...oh.”

Encio’s grandfather was diamond rank. Traveler said silver rankers and above could detect race from aura; there was no way Sezan couldn’t tell, and it was likely he told Encio. If not that, her own behavior would have revealed her outworlder origin.

“That’s not why I wanted to team up with you,” Encio said, predicting his friend’s thoughts, “I genuinely didn’t know you were an outworlder for some time. But I’ll I am curious, now that I know. What is your world like?”

“Hm, many things are similar, but many things not. The most important difference: we don’t have magic. We have something called science instead. Our level of technology is must higher too. We don’t have magic to master, so we strive to master the natural world—that’s science.”

“To master the natural world—what do you mean by that?”

Nara constructed a bouncy ball from the astral. She dropped it onto the wooden floor, where it bounced a few times before settling still.

“What makes the ball fall?”

“The mana of the earth.”

“My world doesn’t have magic, that still happens, in the exact same way.”

Encio’s expression opened in surprise and his mind made the logical conclusion, “Then it cannot be a function of magic.” That was the conclusion, if he were to take her words at face value. The lack of magic sounded unbelievable to him, but outworlders were beings from other worlds. Would other worlds operate on the same logic as his?

“We call it gravity.”

Nara looked out the window towards the stone spires of Sanshi, the peaks of which swirled with large stone fragments, “But I understand why your world doesn’t pursue mastery of the physical world. It must be difficult to draw conclusions when the world routinely flaunts physics.”

Magic could solve the issues with pollution and energy. Water, air, and soil could be purified with magic, and cancer and illnesses can be cleansed with a single ability, eliminating the need for that research in the first place; she didn’t know if that was an advantage though. Magic preserved, repaired, and manipulated the natural world far better than science could. Chelsea regrew an entire forest in a few minutes. On the flip side, science had long solved problems of global communication that Erras still struggled with. They additionally maintained a far higher population density through modern farming methods, though she didn’t know if Erras’ population was restricted because of monsters or some other reason.

“If I get the chance, how about you visit my world with me? I doesn’t feel like you completely believe me.”

“You’re not a very good liar, but that is an adventure I won’t refuse.”

“You might be the one making recording crystals for your family instead. Or maybe, using something from my world. I’ll keep it a surprise.”

“I look forward to it.”

*****

Nara headed with Encio to the Academy for some sparring. She knew she was going to be outclassed, even more than Vallis was with her, but she may as well use him as a resource if he was available.

He grabbed one of the wooden swords off of the equipment rack, like Nara.

“You use a sword too?”

“I do, but my abilities are a little unusual.”

“Well how about that, so are mine. It’s almost like we share an essence or something.”

Encio chuckled, “Let me look at your skills to see what I’m working with. Maybe I'll be the one to end this early, who knows.”

“I’d say ‘I’ll make you eat dirt’, but I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of winning.”

“Do your best, partner. Make me eat my words.”

“One day, dammit, one day.”

As Nara expected, Encio was far more skilled than she was, and even more skilled than Vallis and Sen. His swordplay was aggressive, sharp, and held a masterful control of strength and distance. Where Vallis used overwhelming power and heavy attacks to destabilize her, Encio’s swordplay was an onslaught of fast and powerful attacks. He had remarkable stamina—whether it was the result of a magic ability, or evidence of his peak physical fitness.

But he was training her, not just beating her up for the fun of it. He’d indicate what to focus on, and help lead her to new approaches, like a match teacher guiding a student to the right answer without giving it away.

“Why are all of you so frustratingly good at fighting and teaching?” She mumbled beneath her breath.

He raised an eyebrow, “I’m an adventurer, this is what I’ve spent my life training for.”

“Dude, I was never that good at science and I spent my life studying it. At least four years of it anyway.”

“You know far more than I do of that topic, and I know more than you do on this. Is this not reflective of the lifestyle of our worlds?”

“Damn your facts and logic.”

Well, hey, maybe that meant she was a science master, in the same way Encio was a sword master? PHDs must be science diamond rankers. Then, with a bachelors, maybe she was a science silver ranker? That didn’t sound too bad. She should give herself a little more credit.

“Nara! You finally found another training partner!” Vallis said, waving a casual greeting as she approached the two in the training field. She was bright and energetic, as always, the antithesis to Nara who had her metal reserves drained by Encio’s strict instruction.

“You do realize I literally attend sparring classes almost every day besides the time I spend sparring with you?”

“That’s not the same as a training partner,” she turned to Encio, “I’m Vallis. And you are?”

“Enciodes, Encio for short.”

She looked him up and down, evaluating him. He didn’t look like any of the locals, with his swarthy skin, dark brown hair, mixed European and middle eastern features, and startling emerald-green eyes. He was human, but his eye color was too bright. Likely, he had mixed heritage with a celestine parent.

“Like what you see?” he said, posing for Vallis.

“Why are you like this?” Nara said with an embarrassed sigh.

“I’m self-aware. Is it better if I wasn’t?”

“No…” she said with narrowed eyes, considering if he as a clueless beauty like some dense anime protagonist, except, those weren’t usually handsome, “Probably not.”

“Cheeky,” Vallis said, “Your skills as good as your looks?”

“I don’t think anything is better than my looks. Want a taste of defeat on both fronts, Vallis?”

Vallis sucked in a sharp breath, grinning, “Oh I like your new training partner, Nara, you’ve got good taste.”

“Good luck more like. To both of us. I’m sorry Vallis, I’m not betting on your win.”

Both were sword users, although Encio’s was a lighter one-handed sword, with a bit more reach and weight than Nara’s, and Vallis wielded a heavy two-handed sword.

The match started, at first a back and forth while both felt each other out. Encio still maintained aggression during this period, slowly forcing Vallis onto the defensive with her slower, deliberate style. Not only his sword skills, but his footwork, movement, and sense of spacing were excellent. Nara found she respected that far more, an aspiring apprentice in the art of movement. When Vallis thought she had grasped his pace and fighting style, she moved to destabilize him with her characteristic power slashes. Intentionally falling into a pattern had been Encio’s strategy, and he immediately countered, striking Vallis solidly with his curved sword.

“Where in the world did you find this guy?” Vallis said after she was released from her stunned status inflicted by Encio’s wooden sword, “He’s even better than Sen.”

“You know Sen?”

“I’m Vallis Nisei.” She said, pointing at herself, “I didn’t say?”

“You didn’t, I think.” Nara said, “I feel like I’d remember if you did?”

“Why do you sound so unsure?”

“I’m pretty bad at remembering names.”

“Sen and I are childhood friends. A lot of us from the major families grew up around each other. The Arlang compound has a mirage chamber handy for training. I don’t want to use up the Academy’s when the other students need it more. I had often joined the Arlang relatives for training there.”

“Is the only thing on your mind training?”

“What can I say,” Vallis grinned fiercely, “Fighting is my passion. Sen’s not too different from me there. I hear he’s been bugging you to join his team?”

“You’ve heard about that?”

“We talk, and Sen’s difficulty with recruitment is the local low rank drama.”

“Is it that bad?”

Vallis shook her head, “Raja can pick on other all he wants, but he can’t cross the line. If Sen tried to recruit anybody with the slightest backing, and Raja offended the wrong person, he might make this worse for this family. All Sen has to do is go to a different city with an Arlang compound and recruit there. Raja wouldn’t be able to interfere.”

“Why doesn’t he do that?”

Vallis looked flatly at Nara, “He’s stubborn and competitive, that’s why. Who likes to back down when challenged? I wouldn’t.”

“That means you’re also stubborn and competitive,” Nara pointed out.

“Wasn’t that obvious?” Vallis said , “Genuine advice, Nara. If you don’t have a team to join, Sen’s a good guy. He may be stubborn, but he’d never betray your expectations first. He’s also a master tactician. It may not seem that way from the outside, but he’s got a knack for strategy that few others can match. You may have to bear some childish bullying in the short term, but that’s a guaranteed path to a solid team. On top of that, the Arlang family has political weight to throw around. It’s useful for adventurers with unusual circumstances,” she said pointedly.

“Am I really that easy to figure out, damn.”

“I have to cut in, but as Nara’s current partner, she doesn’t need to worry about any of those things.”

“Really now?” Vallis said, her voice partially challenging and partially doubtful.

“Let me introduce myself again, Vallis Nisei. I am Enciodes Aciano.”

“Oh,” Vallis said, her mouth agape, a complete loss for words, “Oh...”

She turned to Nara, “How’d you manage to snag him?”

“It must be my outworlder charm. I’ve got scions falling left and right. You included.”

“I haven’t fallen for you,” she said.

“You’re all falling onto my goddam footpath. What am I, an heir magnet?”

“They’re commonplace,” Encio said dismissively, “Six families with over five hundred year long histories. If you didn’t find them laying about the wayside like stray cats, this wouldn’t be the ‘city of union’, now, would it?”

Vallis chuckled, “I’m not some scion. What I am is one marriage away from losing the famous surname, unless I shore up some accomplishments. If Sen does manage to recruit you and Nara, which side got the greater benefit?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Encio said with his trademark smirk, “He did.”