Bee got to borrow a pair of Will’s boots. Couldn’t go to the town without shoes, after all. They were a little large, but with two pairs of socks it worked out okay.
Will brought out six large bags filled with various alchemical goods, mostly packs of happy puffs and the potions of minor cure disease he had mentioned before, but also some healing potions and more specialized items.
Bee was wondering how they were going to carry all that when Mongrel shot a whole horse out of his chest, a brown mare that galloped a full circle around the clearing before coming to a stop and letting her master pet her.
“This is Zero,” Mongrel said by way of introduction, clapping the side of her long neck. “She’s a little shy, so she mostly stays inside my… extradimensional… familiar storage… uh…”
“His friend hole,” Will helpfully supplied.
“Sure, that. She hides out in my friend hole most of the time. Which suits me fine, ‘cause that means I don’t have to clean up her shit.”
“How many familiars do you have?” Bee asked incredulously.
Mongrel grinned and tapped the side of his nose. “That’s the last one, I promise.”
“Six familiars is way more than what most people ever go for, given the points you need to invest,” Will explained. “He’s very committed to the bit. I used to think it was stupid, but it turned into a pretty decent build in the end.”
Bee was allowed to come up and pet the horse. Zero threw her head and snorted in a clear show of distrust, but Mongrel offered some calming words, and she allowed Bee a few soft claps before she pulled away with a stomp of her hoof and made it clear that the petting zoo was over.
The chimps helped load four of the bags onto the horse, with one each left for Will and Bee to carry. Number Two and Number Four were still out of commission, and Number Five would be staying behind to watch the house, so Mongrel would be reduced to two helpers for the duration of their day trip, something he was visibly annoyed about.
Once the Builder had fitted Zero with a bridle, they were ready to head out. Aside from the six saddle bags, Will only brought his satchel. He had his pistol with him, and the chimps were armed with knives sheathed on the inside of their vests. Mongrel carried a shortsword, and Bee was given one too, looping the scabbard through her belt. It felt strange slapping against her hip when she walked, but she tried to ignore it.
There was nothing special about the weapon, just a sharpened length of rough steel with a straight guard and a leather-wrapped handle. It looked like something a blacksmith would shit out in an hour and stick in a bargain bin. Still, there was something intensely romantic about the concept of having a sword that brought a smile to her face.
“I’ll have dinner ready when you get backkk,” Nix cooed, swinging around one of the vertical beams on the porch.
Everyone knew that was a lie.
They headed straight into the woods due west, not even following a proper trail but rather little marks left on the trees to keep them going in the right direction.
“I’d have Mongrel clear a trail into town, but we don’t want to start getting visitors,” Will explained. “The fewer people who know we’re out here, the better.”
It was a nice day for a hike, and the forest didn’t seem nearly as dreary as the first time Bee had gone through it, now that there was a bit of sunlight shining through the canopy. Bee could make out the echoing chatter of a woodpecker somewhere in the distance. Zero moved deftly over rocks and roots at a slow but steady pace, and the others matched her speed.
“So, for your next level, I’ve got some ideas about what you might pick,” Will said, keeping in step with her. She noticed that he had a bit of trouble walking in rough terrain with his prosthetic, so she was ready to catch him in case he fell.
“What am I getting?” Bee asked.
“Well, you don’t quite have enough points in Dexterity to unlock anything interesting there, but you’ve got some options with Toughness requirements. Specifically, the two I’m thinking about are Heat Resistance and Tenacity. You could also spend an upgrade point on an advancement for a passive you already have to make it stronger, but at this point I think it’s more worth it to widen your pool of passives to increase utility.”
“What do Heat Resistance and Tenacity do?”
“Heat Resistance is exactly what it sounds like. It makes you more resistant to fire and high temperatures. Not immune, mind you, but definitely less affected by it. Conversely, there’s also Cold Resistance with the same requirements, but that one’s slightly less relevant unless you happen to be living in a colony that gets harsh winters, which the Frontier doesn’t.
“Tenacity, on the other hand, is pretty basic. It makes it so that you can't be rendered unconscious against your will by essentially any effect. The only exception is if your brain or the rest of your body is so badly injured that cognition becomes physically impossible. But in those cases, you’d pretty much be dying anyway. The downside is, even if Tenacity keeps you from going completely unconscious, it doesn’t exactly keep you in peak form. You stay in a kind of semi-conscious daze.
“If I were to pick, I’d say Heat Resistance is the clear choice, and there’s one big reason for that. One of the must-pick skills for several Professions is Spark.”
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Bee frowned. “Is that the one you use to light cigarettes?”
“Mmhmm.”
“What’s so good about that?”
“I’ve told you before, but the Concord was designed to be entirely peaceful, so there are no strictly offensive abilities with the sole exception of Strike for you Laborers, which I believe Era added as a way to deal with the occasional monster or wild animals.
“Spark itself is meant as nothing more than a convenient way to light a fire, and as such it’s restricted to Professions that might have use for such a thing. Cooks, Jewellers, Artificers, Alchemists, and Explorers.”
Bee sighed. “This is going to be a long explanation, isn’t it?”
“Welcome to my life,” Mongrel muttered from up ahead, holding Zero by the bridle. “I’ve had this man in my ear for the last five years, slowly driving me insane.”
“Just bear with me,” Will insisted. “So Spark is not an offensive option, right? The best it can do is make an itty-bitty flame or a shower of sparks. Luckily, however, there’s another skill called Amplify, and Era really fucked up on that one.
“On its own, Amplify is also innocuous. It just increases the effect of the next skill you cast. If you use it on Spark it’ll give you, I dunno, a torch instead of a candle.
“Still not very impressive, right? But people figured out pretty early on that you can use Amplify on itself. Let’s say you use Amplify three times, then cast Spark. Now you’ve got a fireball. Let’s say you use Amplify five, or even ten times. Now you’re cooking with dynamite.
“So you see why Spark and Amplify are staples. Amplify also works well with loads of other skills, but that’s a topic for another time.”
“That’s… so roundabout,” Bee said.
“Yup. With the Concord, most strategies are. People have been cheating every way they can think of for the last twenty years so they can use this pacifist tool to murder each other.”
“And you want me to pick Heat Resistance specifically as a counter to this skill? Spark?”
“Pretty much. Unless you’re planning on fighting dragons or the like, which I would not recommend, that’ll be the main use case. But if you’ll be seeing a lot of combat, you’ll go up against Spark plenty of times. Having a built-in defense against it is pretty important. Stoneskin doesn’t protect you from getting your insides cooked, after all.
“Then again, most Spark users know that Heat Resistance is a popular counter-pick, so they’ll take other offensive skills as backups, too. Still, any protection you can get is a good thing.”
Bee nodded along as she leapt over a stone. “Right. And you wouldn’t recommend Tenacity?”
Will stepped clumsily over the rock, slipped, and Bee caught him by the tunic to hoist him up.
“Well,” he said as he got his feet back under him, sheepishly clearing his throat. “It’s not bad, per se, but it’s definitely a niche pick. If you’re in a position where you’re getting knocked out, you’ve probably lost the fight already, so staying technically conscious but too beaten stupid to do much probably won’t help.”
Bee thought about it. “I think it sounds hype, though. I mean, in a fight, most knockouts happen from getting hit on the chin. Rattles your brain or whatever. Willpower doesn’t have anything to do with that—either you get knocked out or you don’t. Being able to stay in the fight no matter what someone throws at you sounds like a great thing.”
“Hmm. I guess I haven’t thought about it like that. You’re the fighter, obviously, so you’d know more than me. Still, you have to consider that it doesn’t keep you operating at 100%, more like 20%.”
Bee shrugged. “If it’s good enough to keep throwing punches, it doesn’t matter so much.”
Will sighed. “I really think you should pick Heat Resistance.”
“It’s not as excitinggg,” Bee whined.
Will fixed her with a long, dark look. “Bee.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“Ah, to be young,” Mongrel said to his horse, putting his head to hers and scratching her behind the ear. “Lover’s quarrels, making up… Having make-up sex. It’s all so invigorating.” He made little kissy faces in the air, and Zero headbutted him away with an angry snort.
“You’re just in a bad mood ‘cause you haven’t gotten any in months,” Will said.
“I’ll have you know, the demon offered to do me for free.”
“You can’t honestly be that stupid, Matt. She’s just doing the ‘first one’s free’ routine. Then when you figure out that demon pussy is more addictive than slam and you come back for seconds, suddenly she’s asking for payment. And by that point, you’ll be desperate enough to consider it. So please, man, just stay clear of that thing.”
“Whatever,” Mongrel grumbled, refusing to look back at them anymore. “You just hate seeing me win.”
But there was no edge to his voice. He knew that Will was right, he just didn’t want to look stupid by admitting it.
“We’ve got another problem, though,” Mongrel added.
“What’s that?” Will asked.
“That one needs a bastard name.” He pointed back at Bee with his thumb.
“Oh shit, yeah.”
“What’s a bastard name?” Bee asked.
“Well, it’s like a nickname,” Will explained. “Everyone who comes to Nifala gets one. It’s the rite of passage that separates a freshie from a full-fledged lifer. Like how Mongrel is called Mongrel. His real name is Matt.”
“I do prefer Mongrel, though,” Mongrel noted.
“The only people who don’t get ‘em are slaves,” Will continued. “It’s like… a way to dehumanize them, I guess.”
“So you have one too?” Bee asked.
Will nodded. “I don’t like it, though. Fucking Mongrel gave me it.”
The Builder laughed at that. “You’re welcome, brother!”
Bee was getting curious now. “What is it, then?”
“Cancer,” Will said with a sigh. “Cancer Ward Will. On account of being pale and skinny, I guess.”
“It’ll be even funnier when you start to go bald,” Mongrel said with a giggle.
“Why not just give yourself a new one if you hate it?” Bee asked.
“It doesn’t work that way. You have to get your bastard name from someone else, and ideally it’s supposed to be derogatory or ironic in some way. Anyone with a bastard name that’s too cool or badass gets picked on relentlessly.”
“I see.”
“We’ll need to come up with one for you before we get to Sheerhome. If I introduce you to someone without a bastard name, they’ll probably think less of you.”
“Right. I guess you’d better start brainstorming, then.”
“Mongrel’s usually the one who comes up with the names,” Will said with a shrug. “Don’t worry, I’ll veto the bad ones.”
Mongrel fell into deep thought as they wandered on, and they spent a while in silence with just their footsteps, the creaking of the trees, and the low chatter of the two chimps to fill the space.