He and Elizabeth hunted Pikes in the lake for hours. With pulses of [Celerity], Gi was able to keep just ahead of two Pikes. If they had worked together, it might have been more difficult, but for pack hunters they were fairly uncoordinated.

Despite his best attempts, he was never able to kill one either though. The water refracted his attacks when it was stirred up by battle in ways that he couldn't predict and they were fast enough that he couldn't wait until it was a sure thing. Even if Elizabeth froze them in time, he'd almost assuredly take damage from their continued momentum.

He'd tried isolating movements like he'd done with Nori as well, but it didn't help. He thought a martial art could still be of use, but inventing one was very difficult. Particularly one that used his ranged attack.

Elizabeth had collected all of their kills into a giant net that ballooned comically over her shoulder when they arrived back at the Underbridge. With her free hand, she shoved her hair out of her eyes and then dug under one of the many straps that tied down her leather jerkin. She pulled out three copper coins and handed them to him. "For your kill. I'll be diving again tomorrow if you want more work."

Gi stared at the three coins. He'd felt useful by holding the Pikes at bay, but looking at the paltry sum of his efforts further dug in the fact that he was weak. He wasn't going to continue to whine about it though. Despite how he'd felt last night, he had more resources than he thought and he needed to use those. He needed as much information as possible.

Having paid him, she started to walk off, but Gi stopped her with a question. "How do I get my attacks to work underwater?"

She turned to face him, staring at him for a long moment, and then she held out her hand. With a sigh, he handed over the three meager coppers he'd just made. She stuffed them back somewhere in her excessive straps. "You don't. Light is weak to both Water and Death. Either will make your light aspected skills erratic and weaker."

"Then how should I fight the Pikes?"

Elizabeth shrugged, the closest thing to a reaction that he'd seen from her. "Don't fight with your light attacks. If you don't shore up your weaknesses, you won't last long."

Part of him, the part that was like the dopey follower, wanted to whine and complain. The Pikes were too fast. He only had one good arm. His [Divine Bolt] was the only attack he could actually use. He thought of the strength of Danna and the brutality of The Father. To them, his weaknesses must seem trivial. "Okay."

Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment as though considering something. "Do you know how skills are different that traits?"

His memory was a little fuzzy from his time between stages, but he remembered just upgrading his traits to skills. They just did more, right? "They're better?"

"Yes but no. Skills change and evolve."

"Like as I get more Soul Orbs?" He'd remembered Felix mentioning that at the library.

"Again, yes but no. Skills are naturally malleable. They grow and develop in relation to your path. Train it."

"So... I could train my [Divine Bolt] to work underwater?"

"I doubt it. Being surrounded by water is always going wreak havoc on a light skill, but that can't be your only skill. Use something else."

He rubbed his cheek with his paw. Did he have another skill that would work? Should he try and fill one of his empty skill slots? He didn't have any idea how that worked. He checked his skills quickly.

Trait Skills:

* Bishop (D)

* Danna's Conduit (D)

* Concealing Light (D)

* Celerity (E+)

* Divine Bolt (E)

* Merfolk's Blessing (E)

Skills

* Religion (E)

* Light Armor (E)

* Persuasion (E)

[Bishop] perhaps had some use? He'd just used it the once to escape from the other jobbies that had attacked him. The summoned otter had only wielded a rock though. He thought their appearance may have been based off of what he himself had equipped. If so, should he try to get the blunt weapons skill?

However, it did remind him that he'd picked up the [Persuasion] skill. He flooded it with internal energy before asking his next question. "Felix at the library told me that I had to kill monsters to get strong. Is there another way?"

An irritated look passed Elizabeth's face. "You'll need better skills if you want to manipulate me. Figure out the Divine Reflection by yourself."

She hoisted her giant net and then walked off towards the other side of the Underbridge. Gi let out a breath. He hadn't realized that the skill would affect her let alone that she'd know it was used. If she wanted to, she could have killed him easily. He'd really need to test that out before trying again and never against Elizabeth. He was itching to write things down. He hoped that Poe was able to find him a journal or paper or something.

His house was near the lake so he didn't have to walk far, but a strange commotion near the base of the mountain caught his attention. Intrigued, he stepped out of the shadow of the Underbridge and slipped on [Concealing Light]. The day's activities had fatigued him and his internal energy moved sluggishly, but he should be able to hold out for a short look.

Creeping forward, he crouched behind the extended part of Grung's shop and got a better sense of what was going on. Captain Mesano's chimeric panther body dominated what little bit of beach there was between the mountain and the lake itself. Two giant minotaurs with strange golden fur were dragging giant warped pieces of metal that looked like a giant jack made of swords.

"Further to the left!" The captain yelled. Mesano was the only monster he'd met so far that he'd actually call earnest. Earnest to murder an entire other city? Yes, but still seeing that emotion on a monster was strange. "Writ!"

Gi had missed the big headed goblin at Mesano's side and he couldn't quite hear his reply from this distance but Mesano yelled his commands.

"Go ahead and send the scouts out. It's-" One of the minotaurs must have misplaced one of the metal pieces as Mesano's head snapped to them and he yelled out. "Not there! To the left! We're trying to funnel the damn enemy. Does that look like a funnel to you? Do you think any of the Sky Clans will be down here to save your dumb ass when you get swarmed by a bunch of leafeaters?"

His goblin Writ summoned an owl that looked to be made of fire. He quickly wrote on a small stone tablet that he placed in the creature's fiery claws before it flew off. Mesano had switched from cursing the minotaur to waxing poetic about the "heart of monsters who battled shoulder to shoulder against a common enemy." As Gi's energy was running out, he took that moment to leave.

Gi made it back to his new house, but it was empty as Poe hadn't returned yet. The scene with the Captain concerned him. From what he could tell, it looked as though they expected an imminent attack directly from the slope near the Underbridge. Assuming it was from... wherever those Faithful had said the war was from, it could be very serious. How would they get there though? The path that the Captain was prepping for defense was completely blocked by the cliffs of Igna on the right, the lake on the left, and the river to the front.

He shook his head and then dangled his feet into the small section of the lake that sat in his house. Even if an attack was coming, he could always just escape into the lake if things got too intense. If they were anything like Igna, aquatic monsters were rare. Though maybe he could take advantage and get some free kills in? It would be better than trying to shoot underwater.

Gi opened his paw, staring at the little pads in his hand and then slowly dipped it under the water. When he was in the Child Stage, he’d send internal energy to his traits and then they would activate. That was it. The only thing he could do to change it was sending his internal energy full blast to do a burst with his [Arcane Bolt] or a drip to do a more sustained attack. It had felt the same with [Divine Bolt].

But Elizabeth had said skills were different.

He flicked through his skills again to see what might help him the best underwater, but ultimately, he couldn’t think of any ways to change them except for [Divine Bolt]. Hand still underwater, he fed his internal energy into his palm where he “felt” the skill was. Strangely as he explored the feeling more, it felt like it was in both palms. Not two iterations of the same skill or even a mirror. Literally, the same skill in both places.

His energy gathered in his good palm before firing out of his finger in a triple burst. His bolts of light skidded along the sloped lake bottom and disappeared into the shadows of the lake. He continued feeding internal energy and a short time later, another bolt fired. From experience, he knew that is how the skill functioned. It would build up into a three shot burst or he could leave the flow “open” and continue to fire bolts as soon as he had energy though that was less damage efficient.

So how to change it?

First, he tried the obvious of just speeding it up. This time as he sent his internal energy towards his skill. He flexed whatever imaginary muscle he was using to send it there in the first place. It worked, but only infinitesimally and while he pushed, it felt like he was shouldering a boulder uphill. One mistake and the boulder would fall back and crush him. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his energy into the spot on his palm for [Divine Bolt], but he wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer.

He released.

A single bolt of light slid out of his finger and dropped into the lake with none of the usual explosive manner. He’d failed to produce anything useful, but it had changed. To him, that was a success as it proved Elizabeth correct. With his first test complete, he wished that he had-

Poe buzzed in through the open door, heralding his entrance by mimicking a trumpet call. “Job done, boss!”

Gi tried to remember what he’d actually sent him off to do this morning as it had been mostly a way to keep his flying underling entertained. Poe, however, was eager to tell him everything.

“Most food places cost 2 copper per meal or more, but I did find us some meat sticks which looked delicious.” Said meat sticks were sticking out of the bag he’d given him with some kind of sauce dripping down the side of the bag. The messiness of it irked him, but he didn’t say anything as he pulled the two sticks out. They were kabobs, he was pretty sure. Some kind of meat with alternating vegetables covered in some type of sauce. Gi bit in, and despite being a little cold, it was delicious.

“Good wo-“ He started to say around a handful of food, but Poe took a bite out of the other kabob in his hand and then continued talking.

“I also found the book that you asked for! It was only six coppers! Oh, the merchant told me a bunch about the city. He was the nicest rock golem that I ever met!”

“We haven’t met any other rock golems, Poe.”

“Nicest by a lot then, huh?”

Gi just chewed on his kebab until it was done. He rinsed the stick in the lake and then rinsed his paws as well before taking a deep drink. The salty tang of the lake cleared his throat and felt very refreshing. Some part of him felt it was strange that he was drinking salt water, but what else would a monster drink? He ignored it. Gi placed Poe’s kabob onto his shelf so he could keep eating and then dug out the book from his bag as well.

It was… sticky.

“Thanks, bud…” He picked up the little brown book from the bag that was covered in sauce. With a sigh, he tried to rinse it in the lake as best he could without the pages getting too soaked. He was sure they’d be fine after drying out, but it still irritated him. Sure, Poe didn’t have hands per se, but still. To Gi’s surprise, neither the pages nor the cover of the book seemed affected by the water at all. Weird.

Testing it, Gi fished out what looked like a graphite pencil from the bag as well which also required a rinsing. He wrote about his first test and then dipped the book underwater. It maintained its coherency just fine. Gi smiled. It was perfect.

After Poe finished his meal, Gi went back to experimenting with his [Divine Bolt] skill and internal energy. By tomorrow, he was going to have something figured out even if it took him all night.

Test 2 - Holding