Hiral stretched as he leaned back from the workbench, his finished products lying on the table in front of him. Seeyela had wanted some time to talk to Caleon and explain what was happening before they left—and, of course, there was the issue of dinner—then they’d have one last good rest. That gave Hiral a couple of hours to work with the crystal they’d found back in The Mire and the Troblin Throne.
The small projects for Yanily and Nivian had gone relatively quickly, though molding crystal had been a bit more difficult than he’d expected. It wasn’t that the material was difficult to work with—in fact, it was just the opposite. It was too malleable. He did everything with his hands directly, including inscribing the runes into the crystal, and even slight pressure could completely ruin it. He’d had to start the first project for Yanily over more than a dozen times.
The large ring had taken the longest time, with its hundreds of pieces and needing to make sure the edges were seamless, but even that was done.
Though… what the ring actually did… Yeah, that was still a mystery.
“Progress?” Left asked as he walked into the workroom with Right, the second double flipping one of the small crystal chips they’d found in the Troblin Throne up from his thumb and catching it.
“Yes, finally,” Hiral said. “How long until dinner?”
“Fifteen minutes,” Right said. “Found out what these are too,” he added, holding up the chip.
“Tell me on the way,” Hiral said, picking up three of the small crystals with runes inscribed in them. While one was just a flat rectangle about as long Hiral’s hand, the other two were small discs that would fit in his palm. “Yanily is back in the training room?”
“Doing his bunny hop,” Right confirmed.
“Perfect. That’s our first stop,” Hiral said, heading out with his doubles beside him. He couldn’t help but look up at the glowing globe dominating the room. “Left, I know I’ve said this already, but good job figuring out a way back to Fallen Reach for us.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Left said.
“So, Right, the chips?” Hiral asked.
“They’re currency,” Right said. “Dr. Benza explained it through the Help section. Apparently as we fight monsters, these will charge up with some of the solar energy from the things we beat. That solar energy can then be used to buy things in the Asylums.”
“What? Where?” Hiral asked.
“From the interface,” Right said. “There’s a new option called Shop, and the doc said it was like a… What did he call it, Left?”
“A vending machine, whatever that is,” Left said. “The interface Shop apparently connects to the Vault Dr. Benza had mentioned before. I took a look at some of the items available, as well as the amount of currency we have from killing the Troblin Lord five times each—it’s a surprising amount—and I have a few recommendations on what we should buy.”
“Oh, we already have some of this currency?” Hiral asked. “That’s nice. Can you tell us about your suggestions over dinner?” Just then, they entered the training room and found Yanily hard at work.
“Yes,” Left said, then added more quietly, “We have two parties’ worth of currency for one, so…”
Hiral could only shake his head at that. The currency situation was good, kind of, but how they’d gotten there? By losing five people? Nothing even close to good. With a second shake of his head—he couldn’t do anything about it for the moment—he turned his attention back to the Spear Warden.
“Think I’ve got something to help you out with your new move, Yanily,” Hiral said, holding up the three crystals between his fingers.
“What you got there?” Yanily asked, jogging over.
“Runes,” Hiral said. “Like I use, but I’ve put them into these crystals using my class ability Mold Crystal. These little devices will basically activate a very specific function of the rune when you thread solar energy into them.”
“What’s the specific function?” Yanily asked, leaning forward to look at what Hiral was holding.
“This first one here is for your spear. It’s the Rune of Attraction, and when you put your solar energy into it, it should draw your spear towards your target.”
“Should?” Yanily asked, one eyebrow going up.
“First time I’ve done this—give me a break,” Hiral explained. “When I inscribe the rune in the crystal, I have to focus on a concept—it’s hard to explain—that will be part of the trigger. For this, I focused on the concept of your target. Whatever you consider your target, well, the spear should be attracted to it. I figure it will help you with the coming-down part of your leap attack.”
“Okay, I like the sound of that. How do I use it?”
“I need to attach it to your spear. Just below the blade would be best, I think. May I?”
Yanily handed the spear over. With a quick application of his Mold Crystal, Hiral wrapped the crystal band around the haft and secured it so that it was basically a piece of the spear itself.
“There, that should do it,” he said, handing the spear back to Yanily.
“Can I test it out?” Yanily asked.
“Oh, please do. In case there are… uh… any kinks we need to work out.” Hiral shrugged.
“Kinks?”
“First time! Anyway, focus on one of those practice dummies as your target and see what it feels like.” Hiral made sure not to stand in front of the spear.
“Okay… so I just need to… WHOA!” Yanily shouted, the spear ripping out of his hands and shooting forward ten feet to embed itself in the dummy. “That… that wasn’t what I expected to happen.”
“Me neither,” Hiral said. “But at least we know it works.”
“Losing my spear isn’t exactly a success,” Yanily pointed out.
“It’s not perfect, no,” Hiral agreed. “You’re going to be using it after you’ve jumped, though, not while you’re on the ground. Try it out after we put these runes to work, and then we’ll see if we need to make some adjustments.”
“Why do I feel like a test subject?” Yanily asked, but he retrieved his spear and came back over to join Hiral.
“You get used to it after a while,” Right said with a chuckle.
“Now, these two runes,” Hiral said while ignoring his double’s comments. “These are for your boots. Runes of Rejection. The plan is for them to help you jump higher, faster. They’re going to have similar force to the spear, though, which is why I wanted to try it first, so you could see how much energy was involved. I’m going to put them in the heels of your boots.” He looked down at Yanily’s feet.
“Do I need to take them off?” Yanily asked, also looking down at the hydra-scale boots he’d gotten from The Mire.
“Would be easier,” Hiral said flatly.
“Fine!” Yanily whined. He dropped to his ass on the ground and took off one boot, then the other, handing them to Hiral.
“Should be pretty easy to do this,” Hiral muttered to himself, molding the crystal to the heel of the boot and then making it as thin as possible. “This should do it. Might feel a little odd walking until you get used to it.” He handed back the first boot.
“What if I only put solar energy into one boot?” Yanily asked.
“Probably only that foot will jump. There could be situations where it’s a good thing, but, uh, practice and testing.” He then handed back the second boot.
“Okay, let’s do this!” Yanily said after he got his boots back on, standing up and taking a few test steps. “Feels a bit different. Do I look taller?”
Hiral just looked at Yanily, then at the practice dummy.
“Yeah, fine, testing. Got it.” Yanily dropped into his fighting stance. “Should I try it with one of my spear styles?”
“Let’s just start with seeing how high you jump,” Hiral said.
Yanily looked at the hole in the practice dummy from his launching spear, then nodded. “Good idea. I’ll just… WHOAAAAA!” He launched end-over-end, ten feet into the air. His boots stayed firmly planted on the ground.
“Whoops…” Hiral said, Yanily crashing to the ground a short distance away and immediately jumping to his bare feet.
“What was that!?” he asked, his empty hand pointing emphatically at the boots clearly not on his feet.
“I may have been focusing on you leaping into the air instead of rejecting the ground when I inscribed those runes,” Hiral said, considering where he might’ve gone wrong.
“Can you fix them?” Yanily asked while both Right and Left chuckled.
“Yeah, won’t even take a minute,” Hiral said, quickly picking up one boot then the other and re-inscribing the runes—careful to focus on the floor this time. “That should do it. Ready to give them a try?”
“Little nervous to,” Yanily said. “But no pain, no gain, right, Right?”
“As long as it’s your pain, and not mine,” Right said.
“At least you’re not exploding,” Left pointed out.
“I don’t explode,” Hiral deadpanned.
“Wait… exploding is a possibility?” Yanily asked, glancing down at his feet like they were suddenly very dangerous things.
“Like Hiral said, this is his first time,” Left explained. “Of course it’s possible.”
“Uh…” the spearman started.
“If you were going to explode, it would’ve already happened,” Hiral said with a wave of his hand. “Just get back to testing.”
“You knew it was possible to explode…?” Yanily said quietly, but then just sort of shook his head and shrugged. “Meh.”
“Small possibility,” Hiral said quietly, so that only Left and Right could hear.
The doubles shook their heads while Yanily dropped back into his fighting stance. This time, when he threaded solar energy into his boots, he launched into the air—keeping his footwear—in a controlled leap that arced almost gracefully until he landed fifteen feet away.
“Nice!” Hiral said. “How did it feel?”
“Not bad. It’ll take some getting used to, and I’ve got to use the spear part while I’m up in the air there… but… yeah, not bad! Thanks, Hiral.” Yanily turned around and then leapt again to get back to Hiral and his copies. The man stumbled a bit on the landing, only staying upright this time because Right caught him, but he had a huge grin on his face.
“You should have a bit of time to practice before we go—make the most of it,” Hiral said. “I’ve gotta go give Nivian his thing.”
“You got a thing for Nivian?” Wule asked, wandering into the training room with another book in his hands. “Did you get me anything?”
“You made jumping boots for Nivian too?” Yanily asked without responding to Wule. “Oh, please tell me you made them for Seeyela. I would pay to see that.”
“Jumping boots?” One of Wule’s eyebrows had climbed to his hairline. “And Seeyela? Never mind. I don’t think I want any part of this. Actually, do me a favor and forget I was even here.”
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“Something a bit different,” Hiral said with a chuckle to Yanily. “Though I’ll keep that last part in mind if I run short on chips. Anyway, good luck with this. Right, you’ll help him?
“I’ve got some experience being thrown around by your runes,” Right said. “I’ll make sure he gets the full lesson.”
“Back to my book, then,” Wule said.
“Aaaaaactually,” Yanily interrupted before either Hiral or Wule could get more than a step. “Since you’re both here, what do you say about helping me work out the kinks, Hiral? It’s been a while since we did any sparring. I’ll even go easy on you, and Wule can patch you right up.”
Right’s knuckles cracked as he grinned. “That’s a lot of confidence you’ve got going on there.”
“Uh…” Yanily quickly looked at Hiral, then Left and Right, only then remembering they were actually part of Hiral’s ability. Sparring with him would mean sparring with all three of them. “Just you, Hiral. You know, so you can get some practice if… um… they are too busy to help you…”
“Too busy doing what?” Left asked.
“Helping Nivian in the kitchen?” Wule asked. “I know that gets me all the time.”
“Exactly!” Yanily said, latching on to the excuse. “And no S-Rank sword of unfairness.”
“I’m the one getting the handicaps… and you’re going to go easy on me?” Hiral asked.
“Generous, right?” Yanily asked, spear spinning in his hands. “So, what do you say?”
Hiral thought about it for a second—getting a bit of a workout after all the time in the workshop might be a nice break—then tossed his ‘present’ for Nivian to Left. “Hold on to that for me, will you?”
“You really going to make us sit out?” Right asked, clearly disappointed.
“Don’t worry, if he embarrasses me too much, we’ll gang up on him for revenge later.”
“Fiiiiine.” Right went over to join Left and Wule near the wall, with only a minor pout.
Hiral, for his part, unslung his RHCs from his thighs, the weight comfortable in his hands, then went through a few light stretches.
“Try not to outright kill each other,” Wule said, barely looking over the top of his book. “Or break too many bones. Only Cal can heal those. I can probably handle a minor maiming now, though.”
“Does maiming come in minor?” Left asked.
“Objectively speaking,” Wule said. “When I’m not the one being maimed. Yes.”
“Fair.”
Hiral just shook his head and put the banter out of his mind, turning his attention to the spearman across the training hall from him. Yanily wasn’t all talk. If Hiral didn’t take the spar seriously, well, getting embarrassed wasn’t an exaggeration. The man likely wouldn’t try to hurt Hiral, and Wule was around in case of any accidents… but…
That competitive part of Hiral was rising in his gut, demanding he push to see how far he could go. How far he’d come.
“You ready?” Yanily asked, spear still spinning lazily from hand to hand.
“Are you?” Hiral asked, but didn’t wait for the man to answer. Rejection burst under his feet as he shot straight ahead, RHCs coming up in a snap, his fingers squeezing the triggers. Bolts of Energy-infused-Impact—thanks to the modifications he’d made to the weapons—zipped ahead at the wide-eyed spearman.
Even though he obviously expected Hiral to try and keep his distance with his ranged weapons, Yanily didn’t miss a beat, tightening the rotation of his spear’s movements. Just like the lizardmen in The Mire dungeon, both bolts deflected off the spear’s shaft, harmlessly passing Yanily by. In that same movement, he darted forward, the blunt end of the weapon seamlessly coming around to bludgeon Hiral across the top of the head as they streaked for each other.
There was a challenge in that simple movement—lightning fast as it was. Yanily had used the blunt end on purpose.
Hiral resisted the urge to scoff at the spearman for underestimating him, and twisted to the side, just enough the spear’s haft passed an inch in front of him. Momentum carrying him forward, Hiral started to slip behind Yanily, only to catch the pointy end of the spear in his peripheral vision streaking at him from the continued rotation. Maybe Yanily hadn’t underestimated him after all, and Hiral dropped to his knees to slide along the ground—and under the spear.
Two feet past the other man, a burst of Rejection kicked Hiral back up to his feet, and he spun just in time to find Yanily already after him. A thrust for his chest. Another side-step. Then a second thrust—parried aside with an RHC—a third dodged, a fourth ducked under, and a fifth that had Hiral flipping and diving to the side. His high Dex and Atn were letting him keep up with the barrage, but Yanily’s Reed Spear Style was no joke.
He couldn’t let the other man stay on the offensive.
The moment he hit the ground from the dive, Hiral rolled back to his feet and spun, pointing the RHC in his right hand at Yanily. A pull of the trigger at the same time Yanily’s spear came around to block the expected blast, and it was a race as to which would arrive first. Time seemed to slow as the searing bolt of Impact cut through the space. As it got deflected up to strike the ceiling somewhere above. As Hiral’s eyes never left the spearman. He didn’t have the same Atn Hiral did, but Yanily’s instincts were scary good, completely negating the advantage Hiral should have at a range.
So, he launched himself back in instead of firing his second shot when time snapped back to normal speed. Yanily just grinned, sliding ahead to meet him.
Down and at an angle, the spear’s blade practically whistled as it streaked for Hiral’s shin, forcing him to stop short and lift his lead foot. With Hiral’s leg still in the air, Yanily continued his spin—having swapped to Dancing Spear Style—but Hiral hip-fired his other RHC.
The blast deflected harmlessly off the spear’s shaft, though the move forced Yanily to change his tempo, and bought Hiral the second he needed to plant his foot. Then, not slowing, Hiral stepped in with an angled, rising knee. Yanily’s spear moved perfectly to block the strike, and his eyes widened as he realized it was a feint. As soon as knee collided with spear, Hiral twisted at the hip just a touch more, and turned the knee into a kick.
This time, it was Yanily who went diving to the side, though the spearman quickly rolled to his feet and spun, weapon already moving.
Up and around, Yanily’s spear came as Hiral gave chase, forcing him to duck low to evade the sweeping blade, while he brought his own RHC in tight to his chest and pulled the trigger. Close like they were, it would be impossible for Yanily to block the blast. Except, the nimble spearman didn’t even try. Continuing the rotation of his spear like it was the most natural thing in the world, the movement of the weapon twisted Yanily’s body so the bolt of Impact slipped between his torso and arm, while the spear arced for Hiral’s thigh.
High enough he couldn’t lift his leg, and low enough he couldn’t dodge, it was a masterful counterattack. One Hiral was ready for, and his second RHC dropped down to block the strike. Crystal rang out against the twisted metal of Yanily’s spear—while Hiral gave silent thanks to how sturdy his weapons had been built—and he pivoted to shoulder-check into Yanily. Little more than a shove, it pushed the spearman back on his heels, and Hiral thrust out with his RHC.
Still on cooldown, he didn’t bother pulling the trigger, but instead just stabbed it into Yanily’s chest. Though neither move did any damage through Yanily’s Hydra-Scale Armor, they did keep him from falling into one of his weapons styles, and Hiral pressed in. Close as he was, with Yanily off-balance, he had the chance to…
Solar energy flared from the soles of Yanily’s boots, and the man vaulted away from Hiral, instantly opening a dozen feet between them.
“I feel like that’s cheating,” Hiral grumbled as Yanily landed and caught his balance, a huge grin on the spearman’s face.
“On the contrary, isn’t that the whole point of this spar?” Yanily said, dropping down again into a comfortable fighting stance. “But, Hiral, I have to ask—is that all you’ve got?”
Hiral narrowed his eyes at the man across the room—and specifically at the smile. Yanily was enjoying this. A lot. And, though it took him a second to realize it, so was Hiral. They’d pushed each other—though neither went all out—and it was pretty much a draw. Sure, Hiral had ‘landed a pair of hits’, but they weren’t anything more than no-damage taps. No, if either wanted to break the stalemate, they were going to have to up their game.
Let’s do it.
Solar energy weaved its way to his Rune of Rejection at the same time Yanily activated his boots, and the two shot directly at each other. A second burst of Rejection pulled Hiral up short, while a tug with his Rune of Attraction yanked on Yanily’s spear to pull him off balance. Unfortunately, it did little more than pull the weapon past Hiral, though it was enough to let him slip in close. From there, the RHC in his right hand came up in front of his chest, and he pulled the trigger to fire at the man beside him.
Spear twisting, Yanily used the momentum of the weapon to bend over backwards, the blast zipping by straight above them, then rolled out of it in an athletic move that defied understanding. One moment it looked like he was going to fall to his back on the floor, and the next his weapon was stabbing straight for Hiral’s face.
Rejection pushed the weapon just wide of punching into his cheek—that kind of maiming might be beyond Wule’s abilities—the speed of it hauling the air across his skin, and he hip-fired his other RHC again. A small twist of Yanily’s wrist deflected the bolt—barely—and then Hiral was in close even as the pair moved to circle each other. Spear against Runic Hand Cannons, the weapons played out at their least ideal ranges as Hiral and Yanily jockeyed for position. While the spearman tried to force distance between them—just an extra foot or two—Hiral fought to stay as close as possible, even if it meant his shots always came at bad angles.
Solar energy flared under Yanily’s boots to jump away again, but Hiral wasn’t going to let him do that a second time. A flood of energy to his Rune of Attraction turned the leap into little more than a hop, completely negating the move, and Yanily seemed to accept that was the range they were going to fight at.
Choking his hands up higher on the shaft of the spear, he wielded it like a quarterstaff, keeping it closer to his body in a blur to turn aside Hiral’s blasts. Practically on cooldown, the spearman managed to parry or evade the shots, while Hiral danced between the near-constant sweeps from the spear—even though they were so close it would be intimate in any other circumstance.
The problem was, they were falling back into Yanily’s tempo. The man was just too good at controlling the fight. And Hiral wasn’t making any ground just by pushing harder. It was like everything he did, Yanily rose to meet it.
Pushing, huh…
Weapons a blur as they moved around each other, Hiral kept his RHCs above his waist, gradually bringing his shots higher and higher, forcing Yanily to raise his weapon to keep up. From deflecting near his chest, to blocking shots aimed for his face, Yanily didn’t slow in the least. He didn’t even wince at the shots that could break bone—or worse—he just kept going. And, even though Hiral felt like he was directing the fight, some small part of him was screaming that Yanily was the one leading him around.
Which meant he needed to act. Now.
One RHC after another, Hiral pulled the trigger, watching Yanily watching him for the trick they both knew had to be coming. Right weapon, straight for Yanily’s face, deflected aside. Left, dodged underneath. Right caught in tight and pulled off-target. Left, ducked under. Right, hooked under the barrel to shoot high. Left, side stepped.
Yanily was leading him. Purposefully only making contact with the weapon in Hiral’s right hand. And if Hiral was realizing that, it was leading to something. Yanily was anticipating everything he was doing. Countering it. What could he do that Yanily wouldn’t expect…?
Hiral threw his RHC at his opponent, Yanily’s eyes scrunching up in confusion even as the spear instinctively came up and slapped it aside.
Moving forward in that brief opening, Hiral’s now empty hand continued past the spear. He wasn’t close enough to land a punch, at least not before the spear came back across hard enough to likely break his arm. Good thing he wasn’t trying to hit Yanily yet. Instead, his open hand erupted with a burst of Rejection right in front of the spearman.
The sheer amount of solar energy he’d released threw Yanily back like a ragdoll, flipping through the air, though he still managed to bat Hiral’s other RHC-blast like he knew it was coming—while upside down. Hiral was already hot after him though, and as soon as Yanily’s feet touched down, an Impact-enhanced fist whipped around with enough bad intentions to make Right proud, before stopping an inch in front of Yanily’s face.
“Give up?” Hiral asked, the rune glowing between his knuckles and Yanily’s nose.
“Was just going to ask you the same thing,” Yanily said, his eyes darting from Hiral’s face to somewhere lower. Following the other man’s look, Hiral glanced down to find the tip of Yanily’s spear brushing up against the side of his abdomen.
“I… would’ve hit you first…?” Hiral said lamely, then they both chuckled at that. “Ah who am I kidding? You controlled that fight from beginning to end.”
“You didn’t do so bad yourself,” Yanily said as Hiral took a step back. “I’ve got some pointers for you, if you’re interested.”
“Definitely,” Hiral said. “I’m not too proud to say ‘no’ to improving. But, after dinner? I need to get over and talk to Nivian before that.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. We still have time,” Yanily said. “Off you go then. Right can keep me company.”
Right just nodded, while Wule looked up from his book just long enough to make sure everybody still had all their pieces attached. When he was sure nothing was missing, his eyes went right back to the page, and he exited ahead of Hiral.
“You did well,” Left said as he and Hiral started for the kitchen. “I also have some pointers if you’re open to hearing them.”
“Sure am,” Hiral said as he walked with Left. He wasn’t kidding when he’d told Yanily he’d be happy to get some advice. And, Left had a keen eye for things. Speaking of which…“You know, I never asked… What are you putting your fourth stat point into now that we’re D-Rank?”
“Intelligence,” Left said right away. “You’ve got attunement covered, and all the Growers have very good wisdom. I figured I would specialize in that to balance out the group.”
“Makes sense; it’s what I would do. Guessing Right is doing something similar? Probably… strength?”
“Exactly,” Left explained as they entered the workshop again. “You and Yanily focus more on dexterity, but we felt Right could offer big, single-hit decisiveness. Like Balyo did.”
“Definitely something we need, even if Yanily’s new training pays off. What do you think—can he force an ability evolution by practicing something like that?”
“I’d need more data points to speak definitively on the subject,” Left said, “but I believe it’s possible. For you as well. From what Dr. Benza was saying, it sounds like the PIMP system is almost like a living entity. One constantly growing and evolving. I suspect there are even abilities and combinations not foreseen by the creators.
“What the system is today may not be the same thing as what they believed it would be all those years ago when they built it,” he finished as the pair entered the kitchen.
Hiral could only nod. There was so much they didn’t know about the PIM and the PIMP. Still, as long as it gave them the avenue they needed to get stronger, did it really matter? It was obviously already catering to their needs with the specific loot and abilities it provided, so for now, he’d just have to trust it to do its thing.
Meanwhile, he’d do his.
“Hey, Nivian, I’ve got a present for you,” he said, holding up his new runic device.
This one should work a little smoother than Yanily’s.
Should.