The clearing resounded in battle grunts and echoes of frustration for failing attempts or joyful cheers for success.

Synaesthesia showed me Nova's smile as chirping birds for a few seconds. She had gotten lucky, Faruq was personally teaching her the way, and she was picking up rather quickly. I, on the other hand, was not faring that well.

Alright, it was an understatement.

I had tried it all, starting with Willpower, which ended up being overpowered by Jane's own Willpower. I had stupidly thought I could beat her in the use of it. Of course I couldn't.

She had more than twenty levels on top of my Sub-Class in Willpower since we had had the same root Sub-Class, and her Advanced one: Blue Tamer, likely maintained similar Bonuses.

She could have had twice my Willpower for all I knew.

However, Willpower's effects were rather… I could say I liked what it added, very much.

I could express Willpower as an extension of my Will, of my wish for control and the ability to bend things under my control. Putting control into consideration, the most useful thing about Willpower in a mock fight against Jane that I could hope to do, was to intercept or turn the direction from which she attacked me. Yes, it was for barely a few degrees, just enough to dodge the certain mortal stab I would receive on my neck if it had not been a mock fight.

So, I placed my knife forward, hoping to steer the blade of her mock-knife away from her intended direction.

The muscles of my arm screamed at me as the two daggers generated friction, but in the end, all the control I could exert revealed not to be enough to change her dagger's route, and yet, to my surprise, Jane told me I was getting closer.

I did not ask her what it was that I had to look for, so I simply abandoned Willpower's route and started focusing on what results would the use of the other Attributes give me.

After all, as Gramps often said, "Trying to get Flow from a Stone was the way of the fool."

I had already unknowingly put emphasis on Strength and Agility, trying to increase my speed, but I had failed amazingly. The same could be said if I focused on using brute Strength; although my clock-arm did indeed make the difference, it was fragile, and I did not want to break it if I could help it.

All my possible tries left me with Focus.

Focus was the measure with which one could use Flow and Shade; it was many things, but concentration would be the best way to describe it.

Needless to say, it wasn't enough, and yet Jane nodded again.

So was Willpower the game, or was it Focus?

What if they were… both?

And why the Abyss not?

Willpower to control the objects of the exchange, Focus to concentrate all my effort into that, also, Agility and Perception to act quickly.

When I finally tried the approach, the result changed.

I did not try to simply evade; I saw the pattern and countered with what I believed was the Form of the Vector.

I shot toward her, pushing over the limit imposed by my Agility and Perception, utilizing my Focus and Willpower to their utmost maximum; the dull side of my blade pushed her slightly off course, and she had to free her left hand from the hilt of her dagger waster to not encounter my blade.

Although her hands were tough as rock and her knuckle even more so, it was a mock battle, and there was no need to damage each other.

After passing the edge of her hands, I aimed at her throat, the direction of my knife's dull side curved slightly up so that I could better point the dagger at an opponent taller than me.

When the motion was made, our position was so that her knife's pointy end was close to my throat, but not close enough for having been a kill strike, while the dull side of my dagger rested on the skin of her neck.

"Congratulations," she said as we got back into our starting positions. "What you just used was a variant of the Form of the Vector. It is called the Focal Vector, and it is the results you get by adding Focus and Willpower to Agility and Perception."

"Are there any other variants of the Form of the Vector?"

"Yes, of course, the Dominant Vector is obtained by majoring the focus on Agility and Perception with Strength and Constitution, relying thus on sheer power. While the Focal Vector is used for malleability and control, the Dominant Vector is mostly used to block incoming attacks or intercepts projectiles," she paused, "and, finally, there is the Full Vector. It is nothing else but the amalgamation of the other previous variants. Although partially, the Full Vector uses all Attributes to counter opponents to a standstill. It is a rarely used variant or stance, if you may because it requires true knowledge of the Forms and is used to buy time to use Skills. Skills are the turning point of any fight. Rarely will you be able to fight off opponents that have Skills without the use of them; it takes utter superiority in Attributes to do so."

I nodded; it made sense, mostly. But I had to ingrain it in my muscle memory if I wanted to really adapt to it.

"Now rehearse until you hear the whispers."

"The whispers?" we all stopped what we were doing and asked.

"Yes, the whispers. I told you, the Forms are bound to Attributes; they are so perfect that they have been sanctioned by the whispers. But get on with it; you'll see for yourself."

She didn't even stop to say that, that we heard a roar in the sky.

"What in the Abyss was that!?" shouted Roana.

Living in the middle of the forest, she had probably forgotten what period it was, but as we raised our heads in the sky. We noticed the flying ship passing over the horizon.

It was one of the flying people's ships that were so common during the festivals. I had no idea what it was doing all the way out here, but it wasn't a hard guess, sightseeing.

"Oh, it's that period of the year again. I hate it," Ro stated before turning back toward Alistar to continue with the training.

As a matter of fact, Nova nor I did; instead, we enjoyed watching the airships flying about in the sky from on top of the giant clock tower of the Dump.

I wondered if this year I could manage to bring Harlow with me…

Yeah, it was not the time to think about anything of the likes; there was a lot of training I had to do.

I kept repeating the basis of the Form of the Vector that M.J. showed me after the demonstration, over and over again. However, I was not the first to hear the whispers. Not by a long shot.

The first one was unsurprisingly Alistar, and Nova did the same during the next hour.

Jane had them go to rest.

"I'm sorry, Loke, but it's in your best interest to continue until you learn it, but I'm ready to bet that even if I told you to take a break, you would not take it, am I right?"

"You are," I answered, and although I was a little mad, I kept on repeating the Form as if it was an obsession.

----------------------------------------

It was twilight, and I had yet to hear any whispers.

I couldn't help but ask myself what it was that I was doing wrong?

But it was easy to understand what the problem was.

I had heavily relied on equipment and Skills ever since I started hunting, and when times got hard, and I had to fight up close, there was always one of my pets guarding me.

I was really not well versed in melee combat; shame on me.

Based on what Jane had explained, the Form of the Vector was nothing else than attacking in a straight line, like an arrow, a throwing dagger, and the more direct and fast I could be, the greater the momentum and the heavier and deadlier the damage I would deal.

It was mostly a question of mindset, and sadly I had yet to form it.

My mind kept wandering in a dangerous direction, which could be summarized with the following statement: if Skills were more important than the equipment, and the equipment was more important than the Forms, then wouldn't it have been better for me to just rely on Skills and equipment as I had done until now?

The answer was clear: it wasn't. And yet, my mind failed to accept it.

I attacked the tree in front of me; my stance was straight, my dash was focused, my use of attributes was pinpoint perfect, or at least so I thought. However, there were no whispers for me.

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When night finally descended, I headed back to the treehouse. I could have kept trying, but not only was my Stamina almost at the lowest point in which it had ever been, but I was also weaponless. After feeling the Ghost of the Nights’ dread, I had revalued the forest as a truly dangerous place, even this part of it.

I did not know how it was possible for Jane to never have any problems with creatures attacking her abode, but I would surely not be as lucky. I did not have the Elven knowledge of forests and woodlands.

I encountered no creature, well, no dangerous animal, while heading back at the treehouse, and everyone had already eaten. My portion waited for me by the fire.

For Nova, a look was enough to discern the state of my mind.

"Don't worry, Loke, you will learn it, just keep trying."

I nodded. I would learn it.

----------------------------------------

Three days went by, and I had not made any progress whatsoever.

The Sun was already on its descending arc, and everyone was back by the treehouse.

"For Sun's fucking sake…" I said, punching the tree in front of me in a fit of rage.

Jane came out from the woodlands, almost scaring me.

Which said a lot about the state of my mind. I had not heard her? With my well-trained Perception? It damn showed how frustrated I was.

"I believe I understand the reasons now."

"What reason?"

"About your lackings, it is clear now that you are incomplete."

"Yeah, I know my arm is missing, and the clock-arm is a lot heavier than a regular arm, but I doubt that's gonna impede me from learning the Form…"

"I'm not talking about the arm, lots of delvers use clock-arms or legs; I'm talking about your Classes," she said, "You lack an important part of you. You lack a companion."

I was struck by metaphorical lightning then.

She was right, of course, she was!

It had been on my mind for far too long; I needed a new companion; only then would I be really focused.

"Can it be that easy?"

"No, I bet there will still be time for you before you train out of your mindset, but with time and with completeness, you will. Also, I believe it's about time you collected that gift I wanted to give you."

"Really? What is it?"

"Something that falls like a bean for this situation. Now come back home; you'll depart tomorrow."

----------------------------------------

The following day, we established a party for the adventure.

Well, more than a party, we could call it a team… or, to be precise, a duo.

It was simply Roana and me.

Why? Whether Jane wanted to foster our broken relationship back to functioning, or maybe she wanted to push us over our limits, I didn’t know.

My problem was that I needed to get adept at fighting melee, and Roana's problem was the fear of challenging herself in actual battle, something she had avoided ever since she had been kidnapped.

"You will head into plain Gnolls' territory and look for a cave. There will not be really much resistance because the closer you get to this cave, the fewer Gnolls you will see," M.J. said.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, skeptical.

"Because Gnolls around these parts do not worship the Sun,'' said Roana, “they worship that cave, or more precisely, what dwells in that cave."

I understood it then and was not happy about it.

"Wait, we are going to go into a Primal lair? Are you crazy?"

"There are Primals around here?" asked a surprised Faruq.

Primal, there wasn't much known about Primals. However, they were enormous beasts of sheer might. Big as mountains with the power to raze a city-state to the ground if they so wished.

Their might was such, and the fear they induced so great that indigenous civilizations worshipped them as Gods.

The Earth-dragons that were said to live near the Wide Peaks were an example of a sub-order of Primals, creatures defined as Titans.

For example, Earth-dragons should have been as big as the clock tower; if one accepted the stories as true, I had my doubts, but general knowledge spoke of both kinds of beings, and their existence was accepted.

"Of course, there are no Primal lairs in Wastelands' territory. However, you will go and meet something on a little smaller scale. You will go to a Titan's lair."

I chuckled at the madness of that statement. Yes, it was the old Jane; after all, she had gotten back to who she used to be.

"So, what are we supposed to do there?".

"Isn't that clear?" Ro said. "To get you your gift."

"My gift? In a Titan monster's lair?" What were they even talking about?

"Titan monsters age very differently from normal Flowborn or Shadelings," momma Jane commenced explaining; her eyes shined when she talked about creatures, "they do not have the accelerated growth rate of normal monsters. Instead, they forfeit that process in exchange for never-ending growth. That is why they become so big and so hard to deal with."

She continued, "In there, you might not find Titan monsters, but you’ll find Titan spawn, which are creatures different from usual, rare creatures. And if you play your cards correctly, you'll be able to tame as many as you want and get yourself enough experience to level up a few and get yourself a very strong pet."

"Alright, it’s not a bad deal. However, that has me thinking about Titans; how come no one has tamed them before? I mean, there must be someone with a high enough Tamer Class to tame a Titan, no?”

"Like taming a Titan would ever be possible!" Alistar exclaimed.

"The stories say that there have been conquerors who did just that, but I have never really seen anything of the like, nor heard of someone having done so," said Faruq.

Momma Jane did not join the conversation; she just smiled.

I shrugged, “It’s not an answer, but if no one knows better, I’ll take it. Anyway, M.J., have you tamed a creature from there?”

"Well, I prefer birds of prey, and sadly there are none that spawn from there."

"Anyway, enough with the question, do you want to spoil your gift?” she said. “Come on, Nova and I have prepared a few days' travel portions for you two. You have a few days’ time to train your Classes, try not to be too late, or we will have to come to look for you," she said before we departed.

----------------------------------------

"Watch out for Ro, Loke," Nova shouted to me.

She might have to look out for me, I thought but not said as I waved at them.

I couldn't believe I was actually leaving for such a quest without my bow and arrows, and I did not even protest.

"We are not going to die, are we?" I asked Roana.

She did not laugh; she would have laughed for that tone in the past.

"We won't, I told you, Gnolls are wary of the territory, and we'll take the wide route."

"Alright, I trust you."

However, Synesthesia made me hear her shrug as a scoff. Exactly in tone with the way I could see her behave.

She was still angry at me, probably a great deal, and she was right.

We followed the road in silence until we got to the Monolith. From then on, we had to follow the river, then leave it behind and keep going southeast.

There was a long trip ahead of us.

----------------------------------------

Roana led the expedition and focused her mighty Perception forward while I did so behind us.

We had exchanged our updated Tracing results; it was the least we could do.

Roana Dowson

Class

Medium Lv. 24

Foc + 1, Per + 1, Will + 1

Sub-Class

Soothsayer Lv. 22

Per + 2, Will + 1, For + ★

Attributes

Stats

Natural

Augments

Agility

10

Boots (+2)

Constitution

10

Clothes (+2)

Strength

9

Staff (+5)

Focus

13 + 4

Perception

25 + 3

Willpower

14 + 12

Fortune

☆ ★ + ★

Medium Skills

Name

Major

Minor

Passive

Trance - Focus

☆ ★ Enter a state of Trance

Focus + 3

Divulge - Perception

☆ Send your thoughts to your target

Command - Willpower

People and creatures are more likely to oblige your commands

Willpower + 3

Soothsayer Skills

Name

Major

Minor

Passive

True Sight - Perception

★ See what cannot be seen

☆ Feel what cannot be felt

Relentless - Willpower

☆ Your Bonus Willpower is doubled

Willpower + 3

Dowsing

- Fortune

Finding what you're looking for is easier

It wasn't the first time I saw her Tracing, but she had indeed grown since last I had seen it.

I realized that her Perception wasn't that much higher than mine, although mine reached hers thanks to the Bonuses.

I had a total of twenty-five points to her twenty-eight.

Although inverted, the relationship between our Willpower was the same; my natural Willpower was higher than hers. However, she caught up with me thanks to the Bonuses.

I roughly knew how Bonuses worked and affected us.

Logan's answer had been simplistic, "Think of Attributes Bonuses as inactive Attribute points that come in action when you are actively using Skills," he had said.

At first, the statement seemed clear, but now, after what I had learned about Combat Forms, it put another layer of complexity on his statement.

If the system sanctioned the Forms, did they use Bonus Attributes or not? I would have to find out.

----------------------------------------

Roana and I had long since passed the river, and the first problems we had was in the afternoon.

We had already gone past the zone where the Vortex had appeared to make mincemeat out of the slave trader, and somehow Roana felt a Gnoll's patrol.

"Fuck," she said, "come, hurry!"

She took me by the hand, and we ran away, hiding behind a distant tree.

Yet that tree didn't seem to be enough for her; she was really preoccupied.

"Isn't this far enough?" I asked when after we had put more than a kilometer between us, she kept having us change location.

"No!" She burst out, although in a whisper.

"Why!? They can't smell us from here; we've left them behind ten minutes ago!" Having enough of her overcautious approach. I didn't say that she was wrong, but if we kept moving like she was having us do, we would just incur another problem.

"It's not fucking enough, Loke. There's a damn Shaman among them, and we have his phantom on our heels!"

"Fuck…"

I realized that we were in a lot more trouble than we had bargained for.