10.

Santi dodged under the swing, Bianca’s homemade macahuitl screaming over his head. Bianca put too much effort into the swing, staggering by him as she failed to connect. Santi kicked her in the thigh, careful to restrain his strength. There was no point in shattering bone during a spar.

Santi transformed the morph blade into a flat, dull blade, and twitched his wrist to hit her across the shoulder. A golden pane of energy snapped into being, intercepting the blow. Cracks raced across the shield, but it held long enough for Bianca to stagger away from him.

Santi shot a look at Cameron who was straining from holding his skill together. Santi took delight in flexing his wrist and exerting a tad bit more power to shatter the shield with the tinkling of broken glass. The golden shards fell towards the ground, dissipating into motes of light.

Cameron came lumbering at him, intersecting Santi before he could chase Bianca down. A second golden shield spawned over Cameron’s arm. He was using a hatchet and moved slowly and surely. Cameron was a natural athlete who carried himself with a cat-like grace. He was big and slow, but smooth and explosive when needed. It was a good combination for someone who was a Defender.

Bianca was fast naturally, always quick and explosive but now amplified by her stat selection. Almost all her points had been put into dexterity and strength. A glass cannon if he had ever seen one, but partnered with Cameron it was a good combination.

Cameron had put most of his points into durability and stamina, with just a few points into strength and dexterity. The two of them had been the primary fighters for their camp. Neither of them were putting enough points into their mental stats in Santi’s opinion, but that would change when they evolved their classes and started generating more points with each level.

It took Santi three seconds to work around Cameron’s defense without cheating. He was trying to keep himself close to the two of their stats, not just instantly overwhelming them with his overstuffed stats. That wouldn’t help either of them in learning how to be better fighters. That was learned with bruises and effort. Of which he was more than happy to supply them with.

Cam grunted as Santi kneed him in the gut, bending the big man in half. Santi hip checked him out of the way to send him sprawling to the ground. Bianca was instantly there with a blow that would have disemboweled him if he wasn’t so much faster than her.

Santi used his own shielding spell, freezing the wooden blade in place inches from his stomach. Santi reached over and flicked her between the eyes, using a touch of his speed. Bianca froze for a second, taking in the painful irritation before her eyes exploded in rage.

She dropped her macahuitl and reached over and grabbed his ear in slow motion. Santi yelped as her fingers pinched his ear and let himself be dragged closer to his older sister.

“Did you just flick me?”

“Ummm…no?”

“You were dropped too often as a child. It’s obviously given you brain damage,” Bianca hissed.

“You were the one who dropped me,” Santi complained, falling into the same family rhythms that had framed his life.

“Knock it off, we’re practicing,” Cameron snapped. While most of the time he was relaxed, he did take training seriously. It was what had made him such a good athlete.

“Yeah, knock it off Bianca,” Santi sneered. She rolled her eyes and let go of his ear.

“Were you two always this bad?” Chloe asked from her chair. Her and Daniel were sitting in foldout chairs watching them. Before they could bring Cam and Bianca into the team, they had insisted on seeing their skillsets. The elitism was a new thing, the pride of being the pinnacle fighters in the community going to their head.

They were still all amateurs. Just the best amateurs around.

“Do you mean them arguing, or fighting?” Cameron asked as he finally regained his breath.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Arguing.”

“If you think these two are bad, wait till you see him and Yesi. Those two are worse than cats and dogs.”

“Where is she? Why isn’t she fighting with them?”

“Yesi is a Planner. Her skillset doesn’t really go with fighting. Self-defense will be learned though!” Santi yelled up at the second story where he saw Yesi peering through a window into the backyard.

“I think they’ll hold up. Especially if they’re fighting together,” Chloe threw her two cents in. Santi had to agree with her. Neither of them were particularly skilled, but together they were decent. A solid second team until he could get them trained and leveled up.

“Daniel, any word from your scouts?” Santi asked, walking off the wilted lawn and toward his two lieutenants.

“Got the reports a few minutes ago, right when you started sparring. The distribution center is full of metal monsters. Downtown doesn’t have anything moving out of it, but plenty of activity around the buildings,” Daniel reported.

“And the other things I asked about?”

“Weird occurrences around town? Weird outside of the apocalypse and the monsters running around?”

“Yeah,” Santi asked. It seemed his family’s smart-assery was spreading.

“Yeah. There’s a tree that has a constant wind around it. A flower that emits light. An icicle that emits a freezing aura around it.”

“Where’s that tree?”

“Park by an elementary school. Big tree in the middle of a field all by itself. Lots of birds and stuff flying around.”

“What kind of birds?”

“Birds. Red birds, black birds, blue birds. All the birds.”

“I think I liked you more when you didn’t talk.”

“I get that a lot,” Daniel said. Santi didn’t think he sounded apologetic about it at all.

“Ok, so first thing first. We can’t go and do the distribution center until we evolve. I have a grimoire as a reward for clearing the hag nest. I only needed one more ingredient to make it work and it sounds like the tree might be it. After I go, you two and Tank are next.”

“So what are we going to be doing while we wait for you to get it done?” Chloe asked.

“Well, it seems my sister and best friend are underleveled. Daniel, find some appropriate fights. Grab Penelope and a few others who are close. We need to get everyone to and over the level twenty-five roadblock. Get a list of their affinities and classes too.”

“Ok, I can do that. Right now? Or tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll go and get the ingredients I need tomorrow while you guys go and level. See if Abraham needs guards for some of his supply runs. They’re down fighters.”

“Done.” Daniel got up and left to start getting everything needed for tomorrow.

“I’m going home. I’ll pass the word around to anyone who’s close to twenty-five. Try to pull together a team.”

“Perfect.” Santi turned away from them and walked back towards Cameron and Bianca, who had been sitting in the lawn sipping on water.

“Alright. Time to be honest. I need to know skills and how you use them. I have a pretty good idea, but I just want to clarify.”

“Well, you know about my Shield and Barrier. I also have an ability called Taunt that draws attention to me. My last one is my newest and is called Tough. Just increases my durability.”

A personal shield, a projected skill, a taunt ability, and an endurance ability. Not bad at all. Santi nodded to his sister to see what she had in the bank.

“Tough,Burst, Slash, Identify, and I got my newest skill the day before you found us Pierce.”

“Everything needed to keep killing and know what you’re killing.”

“No, everything I need to keep our family safe,” Bianca corrected, looking upset at how he phrased it. Santi shrugged, not willing to apologize over trivialities.

“Your affinities?”

“Common Earth affinity,” Cam said.

“Common Fire,” Bianca said immediately after.

Both of those affinities were common enough that it shouldn’t be hard to gather the treasures needed to boost their power. He had the flesh treasure for Tank, had a decent idea where he could get the metal affinity for Chloe, and a shadow affinity for Daniel wouldn’t be hard at all.

All of the other base ingredients had already been collected and he had ordered several bathtubs taken from partially destroyed houses for their evolutions. The boosts in strength and stamina were a great boon for home renovation. It didn’t take the crews he had asked long at all to rip the tubs free and transport them.

“Alright, we can work with that. Now, on your feet. We have more training to do!” Santi pictured the morph blade becoming a hand and waving up and down. It was the first time he had tried to do something like that and not just picture it as a solid weapon. He was pleasantly surprised when it turned into a miniature hand and waved the relaxing pair up to their feet.

“If you can actually hit me, I’ll cook dinner tonight,” Santi offered.

“So if we win, you’ll punish us?” Cam muttered, drawing a snort from Bianca. Santi rolled his shoulders and smiled. Bruises and effort was what it took to train, and he was more than happy to supply both.