With their goal for the day accomplished, Alex’s friends spent the next few minutes chatting about the discovery Muhammad’s mother had made. All of them knew enough to vaguely understand what she had accomplished. They also knew enough to understand that the specifics required significant expertise in a field of magic none of them had studied. Not very many fields were as relevant as enchanting, and most of the city’s Tier 2s had spent years researching the topic. A decade of learning at the Academy was hardly enough to scratch the basics.
At the end of the day, enchanting wasn’t a topic that could hold the interest of teenagers for long. Muhammad was the first one to broach a topic they were all excited about, “Are you all looking forward to the duel tomorrow? There are rumors that Chester managed to form another aperture and get a few levels this past month.”
“Where did you hear that?” Alex replied, “I haven’t heard anything, and he would’ve made the breakthrough somewhere on campus.”
One of the city’s Tier 3s growing stronger was a big deal, and rumors would spread quickly until they were either affirmed or denied. Chester was the lowest level of the seven, but the extra attributes and strengthened body from just two levels that far into Tier 3 would make a big difference to his combat power. Those two levels were worth more attributes than a Neophyte would receive for all of their Tier 1 levels.
“What do you know?” Jess grinned, “You’re probably too busy in the gym to hear any rumors. How many people have you even talked to outside of our group this past month?”
Alex thought back over the past month, there had been a lot of studying and completed assignments before graduation. In the flurry of work, he hadn’t been particularly social, with his free time dedicated to making sure his work was up to Becca’s and Jess’s exacting standards.
“Not counting the instructors you were completing work for.” Jess continued.
“Well, that’s just unfair.” Alex replied, “Of course I’ve been working hard the past month. It’s not my fault I’m a good student.”
Jess rolled her eyes, “You could just spend less time training your swordsmanship, or whatever Becca calls it.”
“That’s what I call it!”
“Really? Because I’m pretty sure that earlier today you…”
“Alright, moving on.” Becca started talking over Jess, “I heard that rumor too, apparently Chester wants to ‘reassert the pecking order’ after Dale won their last few duels. You know how competitive they are.”
Chester and Dale Lemmings were indeed very competitive. The duo dueled each other in front of a massive crowd in the Academy arena several times a year. The only thing ever on the line was bragging rights, and the victor didn’t tend to brag too much considering how many times the crown had been passed back and forth between them over the years.
The title of the city’s strongest Tier 3 wasn’t up for grabs, as everyone knew exactly who that was, so they were only really competing with each other. It did make for great entertainment regardless of the low stakes, with the arena seating over 100,000 to watch the event every time they went head to head. Almost none of the people watching could follow the fight, but Alice Stirling would often handle the slowed-down illusions personally.
Her skill was precise enough that she frequently liked to pause and go over particularly impressive moves and abilities before resuming. Last time, a two-minute fight had made for a nearly ninety-minute show. Dale had won that match pretty easily, and the man’s dramatic flair had made for an incredibly fun fight. The instructors at the academy had probably been furious, considering how much time they spent teaching students to fight by the book.
“Dale still has an aperture on him, right?” Alex said, “I’m pretty sure that Chester would only be entering the 90s while Dale is already level 92.”
“That’s not the only factor,” Muhammad replied, “Especially when the two are so close in levels.”
“Dale is the more skilled fighter, I doubt it will make a difference,” Alex replied.
“Oh, so the frontliner is the less skilled fighter just because he doesn’t prance around on air, now?” Jess asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Of course!” Alex exclaimed, “Everyone knows that the finesse and acrobatics of a swordsman are far more impressive than the brute strength of a tank. It’s just obvious.”
Becca and Jess both rolled their eyes at his dramatics, but Muhammad came to his girlfriend’s defense, “Just because you have a massive crush on Dale doesn’t mean you should disregard Chester. Jealousy doesn’t suit you.”
“I do not have a massive crush on Dale, although he is pretty good-looking for being 250 years old,” Alex replied, not offended at all at the claim that he was jealous of Dale’s husband. “I just have to stand up for my fellow swordsmen! We don’t get enough respect around here with how much the instructors try to talk people out of using the weapon.”
“Swordsmen don’t get enough respect?” Jess laughed exaggeratedly at the claim, “Ha! As if.”
“That is a stupid claim to make.” Muhammad agreed, “The city has two tier 3 swordsmen and plenty of students and adventurers choose the sword regardless of what the instructors say.”
Alex sighed, “Well of course you disagree with me. You still haven’t gotten over dropping a sword in practice six years ago.”
“The only person who hasn’t gotten over that is you.” Becca came to Muhammad’s defense. “And I haven’t seen you practice much with a bow either.”
“Okay, so we all have things that we’re good at, “ Alex backtracked, “It’s not my fault that I have the coolest, obviously superior talent,”
“We’ll see if you keep thinking that when we’re out adventuring and you have to throw yourself at monsters while I get to stand behind you and shoot them.”
“You make a good point.” Alex hedged, “I don’t see myself giving up the sword just because I might get hurt less, though.” They’d had this argument enough times that there was no heat behind anything whenever the disagreement came up. It was more a source of playful jokes than anything.
Despite his talent, Alex’s planned role as a melee-focused swordsman was hardly a crucial element of a successful team, at least compared to a dedicated tank and an archer. This led to him losing almost every argument about who trained with the best weapon. Anthony and Becca were spearmen at the advice of instructors, but they both planned to transition into different roles as they tiered and gained access to greater and more varied powers. At Tier 0, the Path was too narrow for healers and mages to come into their own.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“If you’re just arguing about swords and bows again, I’m going to go find a book to read,” Becca said before Alex could attempt to rally a comeback.
“Regardless, I think Dale will still win.” Alex said, “He won by a decent margin the last few fights. I think his Enhancements are specialized towards cracking high Constitution targets. Chester is known to have a more supportive Mana Body. It makes sense that Dale would widen the gap between them in a 1v1 fight after the years they’ve spent refining their Enhancements.”
“You can specialize as much as you want, wind just isn’t a great element for getting through metal.” Jess replied, “Chester is going to win now that the gap between their levels isn’t as severe.”
“Alright, well now that we know what the two who always argue in favor of their hero think, I’ll chime in.” Muhammad grinned, “I’m with Alex here, wind makes Dale hard to pin down. We can talk about how a tank is the natural enemy of a speedster because eventually the speedster will tire himself out, but all of the rules get flexible at higher levels. Dale spent decades turning himself into a swordsman who can outmaneuver his opponent until he’s in a position to land his best attacks. I don’t see how Chester avoids being worn down and eventually losing when Dale has managed to chip through his armor.”
“The fight is a little unfair at this point,” Becca agreed, “The stories all make it clear that their team struggled with durable monsters more than anything else while they were tiering up. Dale has been specifically molding his powerset to cover that weakness, and it just so happens that all of those adaptations swing the matchup with Chester in his favor.”
Jess shot Muhammad a betrayed look after seeing just how outnumbered she was. “So you’re all expecting Dale to win again?”
“Maybe if Chester manages to open another aperture he can start to even the score soon?” Muhammad’s voice made it clear he didn’t find the idea too likely.
“Chester’s powerset is more straightforward.” Becca opined, “Even with more apertures opened he’s focused on taking hits and dishing out some retribution. If he can’t catch Dale he’ll lose eventually.”
The more in-depth analysis suited Alex just fine since it pushed the needle further in his favor. He tried to avoid looking smug though, it would just be heaping on the abuse at that point.
“Oh, Anthony’s here,” Muhammad said, waving their friend over from the staircase. Alex looked over and gave Anthony a nod of greeting while their friend made his way over to the group.
Anthony's appearance could be compared to a blond greek god, with his father's Mediterranean features falling under blonde hair he inherited from his mother. He had also inherited his mother's height, most New Chicagoans of Mediterranean descent weren't 6'4". Alex was pretty sure that genetics didn't work that way, but couldn't say for certain and definitely wouldn't say it out loud around the Stirlings. The combination of a doctor and a creation mage probably made for incredible genetic engineering, allowing Anthony to be a perfect mix of his parents. It was a widely accepted fact that Anthony was the most attractive person on campus.
Alex didn't even feel the old jealousy as Anthony approached. Having high tier parents was cheating, but Anthony was a great guy. It was hard to be mad at him for long.
“Do you know if it’s true that Chester opened another aperture?” Jess popped the question as soon as Anthony passed into their area. As the son of Chester’s old teammates, he was a font of information on the city’s Imprinted.
“Let him sit down first at least.” Becca scolded, “We didn’t even say hello.”
“We say hello to Anthony almost every day,” Alex said, “News about one of the Imprinted is way more important.”
“Can’t disagree with you there.” Anthony laughed, “He’s been closing in for a while and I know that rumors started to fly about a week ago, but he finally pulled it off the day before yesterday.”
Jess smiled, “Maybe I’ll get to congratulate him after he wins the duel tomorrow.”
“I doubt it.” Alex rolled his eyes, perfectly ready to resume their discussion on the merits of the two.
“I wouldn’t be surprised either way,” Anthony cut in, “He created a new Ability and strengthened his Soul Spear’s Anhancement. It’s a much bigger deal than just two levels worth of attributes.”
“He made a new Ability and formed an aperture at the same time?” Jess exclaimed, “That’s incredible, do you know what the Ability is?”
“He’s been keeping it close to his chest, so my dad thinks it’ll be something that helps in the fight against Dale.” Anthony grinned, “The duel will be significantly closer than last time, at least.”
“Is creating Abilities just for the duels wise?” Becca frowned, “I know they’re competitive, but that seems a little extreme.”
“Eh, it’s not like one aperture is going to be enough for them to go out and fight in Imprinted Trials.” Anthony replied, “And Chester knows better than to alter his Mana Body specifically for their duels. It’ll be something good.”
“They’ve been closing in on the levels they wanted to reach before fighting in those trials recently. What happened that sped up their progress so much?” Muhammad asked.
“Oh, they haven’t said anything, but I think David’s been back for a few months,” Anthony replied, trying and failing to sound nonchalant as he started grinning at his friends. “The monster sweeps started reporting significantly less activity to the North right around when mom opened her 25th aperture and reached level 99.”
The group instantly went quiet at this news, hoping for Anthony to volunteer more information about New Chicago’s first and greatest Imprinted.
David Alvarez, the only human to have reached Tier 3 before the Fall of Civilization, was a mythical figure to the people of New Chicago. It had been over 150 years since he’d founded the city, and nearly as long since he’d defended it against monsters that came from across the continent when the first Tier 3 trials overflowed and monsters beyond humanity’s ability to combat destroyed the world. With the longevity provided by levels, there were still hundreds of people who could tell stories of his grandeur from personal experience.
There were plenty of stories about how David had designed the city’s most important defensive enchantments personally. The most significant stories were the ones about how his guidance was a large part of why the other six Imprinted in the city had reached Tier 3 in the first place. Every student at the academy dreamed of the day when David would return to lecture and guide, but he’d been traveling across the continent for nearly fifty years.
“You think he’s operating out of the old city?” Becca asked when Anthony didn’t say anything else, “The stories always said that he planned on clearing the trial there and reclaiming the land.”
“Why wouldn’t he return to New Chicago?” Alex added.
“Is he really holding the North by himself? The old city is nearly 40 miles away, how would he manage to defend such a massive area?” Jess chimed in.
“Relax, guys,” Anthony laughed, “I have no idea. Like I said, no one told me this, and I assume there’s a reason for that. It’s just a few too many breakthroughs all in a row to be anything but David’s unique mana type.”
Alex nodded, “That would explain it. The Dean is the only one who hasn’t formed another aperture in the last three months, right?”
David’s mana type was another facet of his legend among the citizens of New Chicago. As far as anyone knew, no other human had managed to gain insight to such an extreme level. It was why his guidance was what every student, graduate, and veteran desired more than almost anything else. Sure, the Academy instructors were trained professionals. What did that mean in comparison to an Epic mana type that focused on making the people around him better?
Mana types weren’t particularly well understood in New Chicago, but you didn’t have to understand what was going on to want supernatural help with your endeavors. Alex’s smile grew into a grin as he thought about what he could achieve if inspiration was once again offered to New Chicago’s defenders.
Ultimately, everyone had to find their own way on the Trialbringer’s Path, but who would turn down the helping hand of Inspire?