Jaclyn hadn’t really been too present for Granger’s training, while she’d been dueling dinosaurs, he’d been blowing stuff up in the panacea area, but she’d heard it. All the way on the other end of the Museum. A constant barrage of explosions and the crackle of electricity, with the occasional organic tearing sound of a magic missile ripping through individual foes that stood too far apart to waste an area attack on.
But one thing she knew for certain was that he’d hit Level 20, since he was now required to pick a new power. And apparently, since he was the first of his Class to ever reach that point, he needed to pick his power at the nexus.
… Which turned out to be a very big deal to the Worldstrider Tribe. A Class-Creator growing to a new Rank, that was worthy of a big feast and celebration.
Or at least, that was what things seemed to shaping up to, with all the delicious-smelling food that was just waiting to be served. Hearty stews, slabs of beef slathered in literally otherworldly sauces, all tempting her to tear straight in.
Although that was probably also due to the fact that she hadn’t eaten in hours, had been fighting all that time, and her power was practically howling at her to go devour something.
But Jaclyn managed to restrain herself and stayed back, leaning against a wall while observing the nexus and the System window that hung there.
You have reached the peak of F-Rank and must now choose a new power to advance to E-Rank. You have two options, and can only choose one.
Arcane Library of the Mind
This power grants you the ability to more easily modify your spells and perpetually retain knowledge of every variant ever created, letting you make full use of your knowledge.
Bodily Repository of Knowledge
This power grants you the ability to pre-cast a handful of spells, allowing you to prepare a devastating opening salvo against a foe with known weaknesses.
Granger just looked at it and scratched his chin, only to suddenly grin and tap the upper power.
“I like precasting spells, but being able to make an infinite number of spells and remember them all … I can’t imagine anything better!”
Another window appeared.
Arcane Library of the Mind
Your mind is an infinite library of information, capable of holding whatever you wish to remember.
Your ability to memorize information is enhanced, statistics, numbers, and similarly raw facts will be retained perfectly while other knowledge is merely picked up at an accelerated rate. This information can also be used to rapidly cast spells, with less complicated spells being cast almost instantly, and complex spells being only slightly accelerated.
However, the true strength of this Power lies in its ability to keep a record of all variant spells known to or created by the user, easily creating such variants, and giving them the power to use a spell’s variants as easily as its primary version.
Ok, that was a rather curious power. Jaclyn honestly wasn’t very sure how strong it was, she didn’t know what it took to create variants to a spell, but she could try to imagine it. Fireballs being transformed into frost attacks, infusing Magic Missiles into elemental variants, etc.
Cheers rang out after that, and Harjaz marched towards Granger with a mug of beer in his hands. The young man grabbed it, downed it as quickly as he could, and then did everything else quite rapidly as well. Almost as though he were trying to get out of here as quickly as he could.
Jaclyn wasn’t going to see hide or hair of him for the next few days, was she?
Nah, he’d be in some lab somewhere, messing around with his new power.
But she decided to have fun at the feast, then do the various stuff she had to do in the office because the paperwork had just kept piling up on her desk while she’d been in the Dungeon. And then, only then, would she be able to get back to the Dungeon, to gain the power needed to stop Alaxia.
***
It had been a hellish two weeks. Ones filled with blood and near-death experiences. Of watching the people she’d been training walking into a Dungeon and coming out in pieces. No one had died, yet, but without access to magical healing, half the people currently in the BPA’s strike team would have been permanently disabled.
However, as the days passed, the rate of new injuries was dropping fast.
Sure, parts of that was due to the less capable members getting stuck in the infirmary and therefore not being available to be hurt in the dungeon, and people in general learning of and thereby becoming able to avoid simple pitfalls, like how overusing Arcane Adjustment could blow up guns in their wielder’s faces. But overall, they were gaining power.
And as for Jaclyn herself, she’d reached E-Rank Level 20, ready to advance in rank and gain a new power.
It had been a staggeringly long slog due to the combination of her high Level and what had to be the penalty applied by the safety net, but she’d managed it … though according to Gula, most people took years to hit D-Rank, so maybe the penalty wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Or at the very least, it was more than compensated for by how much she could fight.
And her new power was going to be awesome if her knowledge was any indication. After all, while the small group of orcish nomads on Earth was comprised of relative youngsters at the very beginning of their journey, any Class that had been spread across the various village nexi in the larger tribe had a well-documented advancement path, up to the highest point someone had reached.
You’d get one power for your Class when you first picked it, one that was the exact same for everyone, though sometimes, like with her own Class, there was an inherent flexibility to said power. Yet even then, the base power was the exact same.
Then, you could pick one of two powers at E-Rank.
And at D-Rank, things got slightly more complicated, though thankfully, she could pick her powers without needing to go to the village nexus.
You have reached the peak of E-Rank, and must now choose a new power to advance to D-Rank.
Two powers will be unlocked by reaching E-Rank, Level 20, and two more can be unlocked by achieving certain things. These powers will not necessarily be stronger than the standard offerings.
If you have already achieved the requirements, they will be listed aside the unlocked power, if you have not, they will be listed alongside the name of the power they gatekeep.
Just like the System window said, you got two powers by default and had the potential to unlock two more, but since D-Rank for this Class was well documented, Jaclyn had been able to find out the requirements and their associated powers ahead of time.
Familiar Bond
This power grants you the ability to summon your bonded animal as a spectral companion.
Additional Bond
This power grants you the ability to form a bond with another currently living, mundane, animal.
Familial Bond (unlocked by making your original bond your own )
This power grants you an additional bond that you can attach to any being in the same family as your original bond, but you can swap this bond at any point, for any number of times.
Ancient Bond (unlocked by defeating a vastly superior enemy and defying the tyranny of rank)
This power grants you the ability to form a bond with another mundane animal, however, you also have access to extinct creatures.
Yeah, everything was the exact same as the original.
Jaclyn had dismissed Familiar Bond out of hand since she wanted personal power, she just couldn’t picture herself becoming a summoner.
Then there was the Additional Bond, which was something she’d been considering for a bit.
She’d wanted a bird, because she’d like to be able to fly, and a proper bird of prey could get her some nasty claw projections on her feet, which would be especially useful since she hadn’t figured out how to project her badger claws anywhere other than her knuckles yet.
So there’d been a bunch of options. Granger had shown her the Northern Harrier, a bird of prey that killed with its claws rather than its beak, which was important since Jaclyn wasn’t a big fan of having to bring her head in close to use an attack, even if it was via projections.
But the thing that set it apart from various other raptors and eagles was the fact that it could fly silently, just like owls did. Except owls were unacceptable, since they fell into the category of “uses beak to kill”, something made even worse by the small size of their beak, which meant she’d have to get in very close to use that manifestation.
Then, there’d been the secretary bird, which had long, stork-like, legs, which it used to kick snakes to death with very precise strikes to the skull. Kicking power and precision on top of flight, it had seemed perfect.
There’d also been the harpy eagle, which was a rainforest hunter that could easily navigate this ecosystem and had ludicrously long and sharp claws.
All cool options.
The Familial Bond, in the meanwhile, was a hell of a lot better than it seemed. She’d received it for creating her Skill “Fist of the Indomitable Badger”, and she would have been more than happy with it even if it had been the only one available.
Getting another bond that gave the exact same benefits as the first wouldn’t do much since the strength of the boons depended on your Spirit stat, but you could get complimentary powers that worked well. Like a honey badger’s flexible defense easily stacking with a turtle’s shell, that could be good.
Stacking a honey badger and an American badger or something, less good.
A wolverine, though, that could work as her standard second bond. They were actually slightly less tough than honey badgers, but they were bigger, stronger, and had a deadlier bite, as well as a longer muzzle, which she’d be able to better deploy.
And when needed, she could swap to a stoat for speed or a giant river otter for water-related stuff.
It had been cool to think about, but there was still one more bond.
The greatest, one so brimming with possibility that she’d gone a little bit crazy thinking about what she wanted to use.
Ancient Bond.
The reward for taking down Oliver Fields despite the massive power difference.
Her first thought had been some big dinosaur-like flying creature, like the Quetzalcoatl, but that had gone out of the window when she’d learned they weren’t very agile, being gliders. An incredibly cool option, but also one that wouldn’t have helped much, and the same went for any other dinosaur-era fliers.
Then, she’d thought about grabbing an ankylosaurus, which was another incredibly durable creature, but the mechanism was different enough from her badger that the combination should make her ludicrously durable.
And because it had to be thought about, she’d also thought about megalodons, saber-tooth tigers, and even a t-rex, but only because she’d have felt bad if she hadn’t at least considered them.
But ultimately, she’d wanted flight, for mobility, and she hadn’t thought she’d find that under the umbrella of “Ancient Bond.”
Until she’d asked Granger. Because while she might have watched the occasional nature documentary with Eve and squeezed in a few more for research purposes since she’d received her Class, he was a nerd. In the nicest possible meaning of the word. He had a head full of countless ideas and obscure facts that she didn’t even know the context of.
And one of his interests included animal facts.
Ancient Spirit Bond: Haast’s Eagle
The Spirit of the Haast’s Eagle now empowers you, granting the following benefits:
- Giant Hunter (you more easily find weak spots on enemies that are physically larger and/or stronger)
- Raptor’s Reflexes (you gain the reflexes needed for high-speed aerial combat/diving attacks)
- Lethal Grasp (your fingertips and manifested claws do more damage, grasping actions to more damage via claws)
- Sky Conqueror (you feel more comfortable in midair and are more easily able to control your flight once you begin to fly)
- Adaptive Air Resistance (you may slightly adjust your air resistance in either direction)
The Haast’s eagle was the biggest bird of prey to ever exist, and despite its ludicrous wingspan of up to three meters, it was also impressive in another way. Its preferred prey was the now likewise-extinct giant moa.
Just like her honey badger, it punched above its weight class, though it had done so through agility and hit-and-run tactics, not legendary stubbornness and an unwillingness to back down.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
It was a monster in the truest sense of the word, and once she figured out how to use its powers, so would she.
Name: Jaclyn Abrams
Race: Human
Class: Anima Monk
E-Rank, Level 10/20 -> D-Rank, Level 0/20
Class Abilities
Spirit Bond: Honey Badger (F-Rank)
Spirit Projection (E-Rank)
Ancient Bond: Haast’s Eagle (D-Rank)
Statistics (0 points available)
Body: 100 -> 150
Magic: 5 -> 15
Mind: 85 -> 125
Spirit: 84 -> 124
Skills
Pugilism 27 -> 31
Fist of Indomitable Badger 29 -> 31
Athletics 25 -> 30
Situational Awareness 25 -> 30
Bullshit Radar 17 -> 19
Martial Arts 30 -> 32
Alternate Skill Set (currently inactive, switch unavailable)
Mana Control 5 -> 7
Utility Magic 4 -> 6
Ballance 13 -> 14
Breathing 7 -> 10
Inspect 3 -> 7
Movement 5
***
Her status screen showed immense growth, with her having gained 100 Stat points with her level-ups and an extra 10 points in each Stat for hitting D-Rank.
And her Skills had grown nicely too, though it was becoming abundantly clear how much their growth slowed the higher they got. Past Level 20 was bad enough, requiring multiple nasty fights for each one, but anything past Level 30 grew so slowly that those below the threshold could catch up.
However, it was her new power that really made her grin. If only she could figure out how to fly with it …
***
Admittedly, the humans had likely gained more out of the last couple of weeks than he had, but Thomas felt in no way like he’d gotten the worst part of the deal.
It had been entertaining whenever they tried to go to a new area and things went, uh, spectacular. Spectacularly wrong, that was.
Sure, they’d adapted and things had become boring and they’d even managed to have things get less chaotic when exploring, but it never went perfectly.
And he’d managed to upgrade several creatures, especially the raptors in the main hall.
The flying microraptors had gained the power “Momentum Transfer” that let them stop dead when striking something, transferring all their kinetic energy via the point of contact, concentrating the force into a small surface area while also buying the raptors a window of opportunity to run like hell.
And his utharaptors now shared Cheshire’s enhanced claws and the ability to project the edge outwards. Utharaptors were big fuckers, essentially being what Jurrasic Park claimed velociraptors to have been.
He’d also upgraded the creatures in the panacea run. The crocodiles had gained a power that not only made them functionally immune to toxins but also let them absorb them for a temporary power boost. In other words, if someone injured one of the toxic hippos up there, it would be even worse than before.
And the catsharks were now a serious menace. Still cute, but an absolute freaking menace.
After all, he’d given them a variant of the void wolves’ gravity power, where they could bite down on something and multiple gravity shears would rip that thing to pieces before sucking it down into the shark’s gullet.
The next person who tried to get a vial of the magical cure-all potion would be in for a rude surprise.
***
Jaclyn spat sand and profanity in equal measure as she dragged herself out of the long trench her body had carved into the assault course she’d found on a nearby army base.
She was just glad that her authority had been enough to chase off any looky-loos, since anyone seeing this would have cost her most of her authority. Her performance here was far from dignified.
But she’d tried everything she could think of, from just trying to imagine it, to stretching out her arms as though she were wearing an invisible wingsuit. Even flapping her arms like a toddler pretending to be a bird had done nothing.
Sighing, Jaclyn climbed back up on the climbing frame she used to jump off of, then sat down and grabbed the phone she’d deposited there to make a few Google searches.
Apparently, birds had an extension of their sternum that the muscles that controlled wings attached to. And their flight muscles were their chest muscles, that was literally what a chicken breast was.
But humans didn’t, so she couldn’t try to outright copy what birds did to take to the air, which was a relief. Flying by flexing her chest sounded just plain wrong, on every conceivable level.
However, there were other ways to manifest the spectral body parts than direct mimicry.
Sure, she caused the spectral badger jaws to pop into existence by snapping at something with her actual teeth, but her claws appeared on her knuckles, not her fingertips.
So, how was she supposed to call in her wings? What motion felt right for that?
Her claws manifested when she transformed her hand from a way to use tools to implements of destruction.
What was the equivalent for her wings?
Maybe she shouldn’t think about flying just yet? How was she going to unfurl them?
Jaclyn shrugged. That didn’t do anything, but it still felt somewhat correct.
So she tried to roll her shoulders forward, which didn’t feel right, so she tried it in the other direction, and bam, it worked. Two massive spectral wings, each almost two meters long, extended on either side of her.
With a massive grin on her face, Jaclyn put her phone back down and jumped.
For a brief moment, it seemed like she was going to just plummet to the ground like all the previous attempts, but then, they caught the air and began to glide.
It felt, in a word, amazing, the air rushing past, the ground below flashing by, and this feeling of freedom … the freedom to win up tangled in a barbed-wire fence if she didn’t find a way to steer.
Bollocks!
Jaclyn tried to steer her flight, making increasingly desperate moves until her wings simply dissipated, dumping her into the water section of the assault course.
A split-second before impact, a spectral badger appeared around her, protecting her from some of the impact of the fall, dissipating as water exploded away beneath her.
Manifestation Type “Badger Cannonball” has been registered
Oh, shove off, System!
Manifestation Type “Flight of the Conqueror” has been registered
Ah, that was better. Now if only she weren’t two meters underwater …
Two minutes later, Jaclyn dragged herself out of the water and onto the muddy embankment, cursing her current position.
But progress had been made, and between her balance Skill and the “Sky Conqueror” portion of her new power should make this a little more doable overall.
And once she’d mastered the art of flight, she’d visit the Dungeon and fight that damn cat again.
***
Of course, Thomas had also upgraded his champions, with all three of them now being D-Ranks.
Jan remained his ambassador, and had received an upgrade to his item summoning abilities. It wasn’t just about him having access to an endless amount of throwable projectiles, it was about him being able to directly call small items from the Dungeon into his hand, or send them back.
Of course, he’d almost exclusively be drawing on an endless number of temporary summoning tokens to overwhelm enemies with raw numbers when he had to fight, but overall, it was a power one could get creative with. Thomas was unlikely to resort to too many tricks, but the point was that if he had to, he could adapt to virtually any situation.
Countless chemicals, toxins from every monster that had ever died in his Dungeon, even jars of refrigerator coolant, all of those were just a single thought away from any place where Jan fought a foe.
Then, there was Dexter. The megatherium was already a physical powerhouse, but he had also decided to tack on a combination of battlefield control and mobility support power. The Marble Hoplite’s stone pillar ability.
Not only would he now be able to block off areas with these pillars given enough time, but they would also function as grappling points for his extendable arms.
And finally, there was Cheshire. She had received the power of Feline Grace.
It sounded more than a little redundant, but this wasn’t a power based on the general category of feline predators, or simply her standard physiology transformed into a power that had then been returned to its “original” bearer for synergy purposes.
No, this was something drawn from the common housecat. Thomas still wasn’t sure why there’d been a stuffed cat in the depths of the archives, but the point was that he had found it, and transformed it into a power.
In other words, every meme that had ever been made about cats, every old wives’ tale about what these willful creatures could do, now applied to the speedy champion.
She was so flexible that she could fit through any opening that was even slightly larger than her skull, and fill out almost any container, perfect proof that the claim “cats are liquid” was, in fact, true.
She’d even gained the traditional “nine lives” of felines, in the metaphorical sense. Cats didn’t actually die eight times before the reaper could even think about approaching them, they were just damn tough, lucky, and had the reflexes to react to almost anything.
Powerful blows, even from cars, could be blunted when the cat jumped away before the impact landed, thereby robbing it of some of its power.
They also had a habit of counterattacking against even venomous serpents, bopping the snakes on the head with their paws whenever they tried to strike, thoroughly fouling the attack.
And that trick also worked against powerful birds, other cats, even some dogs.
Also, speaking of impacts, cats had ludicrously flexible spines, highly stretchy ligaments, unusually elastic bones, and clavicle bones that were literally not attached to any other bone, letting them shift practically freely.
Overall, all the things that a cat could do, all the stunts that entertained people the world over in the form of cat videos, Cheshire could now also pull off.
She was not only the only being capable of freely moving in her room, had ludicrously lethal claws, and could do devastating damage during her brief bursts of superspeed, but she also had the ability to hit anyone within an arm’s reach of her, she no longer had such a thing as blindspots she couldn’t turn to or slash had in a matter of seconds.
Oh, who was the most adorable speed demon killing machine in all of existence?
That’s right, this adorable kitty!
And based on who’d just walked in through the door, he’d be seeing her in action soon.
***
The Dinosaurs weren’t a threat to her anymore. Not at all. But she’d still fight them while paying full attention regardless.
It had been extremely tempting to fly over here, but she’d decided against it as she had no idea if there was anything in the jungle that liked to gobble up careless flyers. So she’d gone along with the last convoy.
And then, in the entrance hall, she’d taken to the air, evading all the annoying little critters in the grasslands that now filled the room with casual ease.
Just like that, ten seconds later, she was in the dino section, flying overhead, only to have a Microraptor leap at her from a nearby column.
Jaclyn’s backhand turned the creature into red mist but also dissipated her wings, causing her to fall back to the ground from a thankfully quite survivable height.
That was the main issue with her flight. Extreme arm movements dismissed the thing keeping her aloft, and while she’d practiced re-manifesting them mid-fall, that only worked when she wasn’t right above the ground.
But instead of fighting her way through normally, she once again took to the air, wings flapping, until she was above the draconic tyrannosaurus, at which point she let herself fall right on its head. Massive claws erupted from her feet at the moment of impact, clawing into her target’s skull, only for her wings to reappear and start flapping, ripping out a massive chunk of flesh and bone fragments.
Manifestation Type “Talon Strike” has been registered
The dino roared with agony and Jaclyn flew higher before dropping down again, repeatedly striking the monster on the head while dodging blasts of fire breath until the skull cracked and it died.
So, that was hardly something she could use with other delvers behind her, people her foe could go target if she made herself unavailable.
But in the here and now, there was nothing stopping her from tearing her way through everything that stood in her way until she’d reached the entrance to the boss room, covered in slowly fading blood spatters but overall fine.
Jaclyn took to the air after grabbing the bag of grit and sand from the monkey and attaching it to her belt, causing the giant cat to flash past underneath her.
Hah, first time she’d managed to properly dodge that thing so cleanly.
There was a loud “thump” as the cat slid into the far wall, which caused Jaclyn to shoot towards it, feet hammering into her target’s spine, and the clawed feet of the ancient superpredator appeared, anchoring her to her foe’s flesh. Something she could use to start punching, every strike ripping flesh or cracking bone … but she only got off three blows.
Beneath her, the cat reared up onto its back paws just enough to get both front paws off the ground, twisted around to the point where it could practically look her in the eye, and smacked her. Chances were, it had prioritized getting her off over landing a precise strike that brought its claws into play, but it still hurt.
Jaclyn barely managed to get her arms up in time, manifesting two layers of spectral badger fur, but it was enough.
One of the most underrated parts of her new power was the Raptor’s Reflexes, which almost entirely made up for her low Mind stat.
Raw, physical speed was a product of the Body stat, but using that speed required Mind, or Spirit with an applicable power.
However, the only thing gained by Mind that Jaclyn really needed was the reflexes. Raw thinking speed was nice, but not as important. If she had the time to think and come up with a plan, unless Mind was her primary Stat, that meant that the fight had stalled.
What she needed was the ability to rapidly defend or attack as the situation demanded it. And in high-speed, high-intensity combat, it was a matter of reflexes, muscle memory, and experience, not having a quick mind.
Even as she slid towards the slippery floor, her hand flashed out to scatter sand across the ground to ensure she had something to stand on.
The big cat turned towards her and blurred, but Jaclyn grasped two hands full of sand, then threw one into the monster’s face and the second where she was planning to dodge to.
Blinded, the cat rocketed into the wall, allowing her to land two serious punches to the ribs, but the creature turned to face her a moment later, eyes clear.
***
Thomas grinned. He really should have given his bosses nictitating membranes, also known as the third eyelid held by crocodiles, but also many other reptiles as well as birds and sharks, to protect them from stunts like that. Especially as he gave people bags of sand just outside this room.
But in the end, he’d come up with a different counter, involving Feline Grace. Simply put, Cheshire could blink at the moment of impact, only briefly losing her sight, and then, she’d be right back up and in full possession of all her senses.
Something his favorite Delver clearly hadn’t expected.
***
The cat lunged again and Jaclyn used her wings to drag herself sideways, dodging, then reversed course and managed to rip a huge gash in her foe’s belly, but its rear claws flashed out, anchoring it, and suddenly, the cat was perfectly positioned to turn and bat her away again, causing her to hammer into the far wall with enough force that it would have likely killed her just a few Levels ago.
A burning pain spread across Jaclyn’s back, followed by a “wet” feeling in her clothes. She briefly glanced down and saw the red staining her torso.
Fuck, it had managed to get its claws into play that time. But the damage wasn’t lethal, or even remotely enough to disable her.
Jaclyn stood back up and growled, a bestial snarl that climbed up from deep inside her chest and rang out with enough volume that it would have made the windows rattle if there’d been any in the room.
She once again charged through the air, only to realize that all the sand in the bag was falling out. Oh, hell, it had been sliced open during that hit. So, no more creating new areas she could stand on without inadvertently doing her best “Bambi on ice” impression. Sure, that had been cute when she’d watched the movie with Eve, but doing the whole thing herself wasn’t exactly fun.
The cat launched itself at her, paw smashing towards her … and she grabbed it. By the time it hit, she’d wrapped both her arms and legs around it, instead of being hammered away, she was moving with it … but then, she met the ground, crushed between the unforgiving floor and the monster’s weight.
Except weight and the damage caused by it was the one thing that ranking up could not cause.
And from there, Jaclyn was able to perfectly kick the inside of the big cat’s knee, not succeeding in breaking bone but certainly cracking something, which she immediately followed up by kicking the creature in the throat, then rolling out of the way while it was reeling back.
She managed to get onto another island of sand with a second roll and stood up in a flash, hands raised defensively while the big cat glared at her.
After a long moment, they decided to attack at the same exact time.
Attacking and retreating, dodging and weaving, landing blows and taking some in return.
The next minute or so was a blur to Jaclyn, during which she didn’t even have the chance to really think about what she was doing, she was just reacting. It was a point-blank brawl, with Jaclyn often turning attacks into opportunities by counterattacking, landing devastating punches to the softest targets she could reach.
But a headbutt dropped her on her ass and another strike with the paw flicked Jaclyn all the way out of the boss room.
Ow.
Jaclyn leaped to her feet but wound up slipping again as the crap that had been on the floor had been spread out here when she’d been pushed over.
Cursing, she got up properly, moving carefully, raising her fists, but her foe wasn’t looking much better and just lay there, watching her. They were both beaten to hell.
Jaclyn put her hands on her knees bending over, breathing heavily. Then, she glared at the big cat sitting in the opposite corner, licking its wounds.
“Draw?” she asked, and as though agreeing with her, the big cat chuffed.
No, she wasn’t happy with not being able to solo a boss monster of her Rank, but she’d fought that damn overgrown housecat to a standstill. And when she’d be fighting Alaxia two days from now, she wouldn’t be alone.