Sinclair blinked. “You wish to defer selecting your treasure…”
“Not quite,” I said, tapping my finger against his Mahogany desk. While Sinclair didn’t ordinarily meet people on such short notice, Aerion and I were exceptions. We’d met him in his personal study, and were currently seated across his table. “I want to defer it, but I also want to take my pick of the spoils in Dominium’ vault. I don’t know when we’ll be back to Basecrest after this mission, and considering the contract comes directly from the capital, I’m guessing we’re bound to end up there after.”
Sinclair leaned back in his leather chair, thinking it over. “While true, I must caution you. All you will have is my letter of promise upon reaching the capital. I would have to call in a personal favor with the Executor to do this, and even then, I cannot guarantee they will offer you the same degree of freedom as I have. You might not be granted access to as many pieces of gear.”
“But the capital’s vault is much larger than the one in Basecrest, right?” I countered. “I’d be happy making that trade.”
Well, that was only one of the reasons, of course. Dominium’s vault was bound to have far better selection than Basecrest’s, and I’d take quality over quantity any day, but what I was really after was Essence buffer.
By the time we wrapped up with the elves and headed to Dominium, chances were good Rocky would’ve hatched. Or if not, its Essence cost would be a small fraction of its current amount, assuming its cost decreased linearly.
That would mean that I could, in fact, abuse the armory as I had in Basecrest. They said delayed gratification was where it was at, and at least this time, I was inclined to agree.
Sinclair looked at Aerion, who nodded. “I would like this as well. In fact, the idea was mine.”
Huh. Nice improv, Aerion.
The Baron sighed. “Very well. I owe you two at least that much, but may I ask why? Surely, you’d wish to equip yourselves with the best equipment you can obtain prior to journeying into such a dangerous forest?”
“It has to do with my Blessing,” Aerion said smoothly, covering for me. “Due to the way my Blessing works, I stand to gain more by acquiring the gear later.”
Smart. It was considered bad form to ask about the details of a delver’s Blessing. Trade secret, and all, and who was more likely to stand on etiquette than the Baron of a city?
I loved how I could count on my elf friend in these situations. She’d always had a keen mind for dialogue, being strangely adept at guiding conversations her way. How she managed that with a Passion stat of 2, I would never know. Maybe Passion was one skill where natural aptitude could make up for a skill deficiency. Maybe all the stats worked that way.
Now that was a thought.
“That right?” Sinclair said, interrupting my reverie. “Seems strange to me, but then again, what Blessing doesn’t have its quirks? I’ll have the letter of promise drafted by the morrow, in time for the procession.”
Ah, yes. The procession.
“Can’t wait,” I said with a tight smile.
----------------------------------------
Walking Basecrest’s streets brought back a sense of nostalgia I wouldn’t have expected. After all, it hadn’t even been three weeks since we’d last been there. Though, I supposed so much happened in that time, it might as well have been a year.
What was that saying? I’ve lived in a hundred years what most people wouldn’t ever experience in a thousand?
It felt apt here, and as I entered the heavy double doors to the vault, I felt like a changed man. I supposed I was, technically. I was now Divergence Rank, and that meant several things. It meant I could Initialize anything up to [Rare] quality at a 99% chance of success. It also meant I would gain more Essence per level—40 points—up four times what I got at Foundation. My Spatial Inventory could hold more, including Aerion, and now had [Launch] and [Aim], unlocking a whole plethora of new abilities.
In fact, that was what we were about to test. The penthouse’s balcony wasn’t exactly the best environment for combat tests, and both Aerion and I had plenty to test.
The experience split she’d received from the Cataclysm Dungeon allowed her to level her Blessing up from E-4 to E-6. Considering how, aside from 10 points she’d put towards Grace, she hadn’t spent any of her free stat points since entering the dungeon—she hadn’t needed to, having overhead in both Dominion and Vigor—she had a whopping 60 points to spend.
I, on the other hand, needed to grind my Grace to turn me into the speed demon I’d envisioned.
That meant an open field, and humans being creatures of habit, we returned to the field in the outer ring where we’d once trained, before the dungeon.
The Basecrest military used it for drills, but they weren’t here right now, leaving it devoid of anyone who might get in the way. Or get hurt.
“First off, I think you should spend some of your stats,” I said, bringing up Aerion’s status screen.
Vigor: 40 (43)
Order: 8 (8)
Wisdom: 14 (15)
Passion: 2 (2)
Grace: 26 (29)
Cunning: 10 (10)
Dominion: 47 (59)
“Well, your Dominion’s your highest stat, followed closely by Vigor. No surprise there.”
“Shall I put more points into Dominion?” Aerion asked.
I shrugged. “You have plenty of overhead there. Nothing stopping you from allocating points as you creep up on that. On the other hand, you’re near your ceiling for Vigor, so I’d definitely put some into that. As for the rest… While Grace is your third-highest stat right now, I do still feel like Wisdom is worth putting points into. We know it allows you to shape your magic, and since you only have a small handful of abilities, I think having that customization is useful. Still, Grace is good, too. You’re light and small, which makes you a naturally harder target. Moving fast and dodging enemies works perfectly to complement your Dominion.”
“I see,” Aerion said, scowling. “It’s odd that my Vigor almost matches my Dominion right now. Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?”
I shrugged again. “The dungeon had us traveling and climbing a lot, so it’s no surprise. That’s why training even when we’re outside dungeons is important. Can’t really control what stats go up in a dungeon, but we can in training.”
“Right, then. I’ve added 12 points to Vigor, bringing my ceiling to 55, and 16 to Grace, bringing that to 40. Another 15 to Wisdom puts it at 30, leaving 17 unspent. You sure I shouldn’t invest in any of the other stats?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Uh, any particular reason you brought each stat to round numbers like that?” I asked, a little amused at her allocations.
When she answered by glaring at me, I coughed, and my survival instincts urged me to reply to her question. “I’m not the biggest fan of putting points into anything unless there’s a clear purpose and vision behind it. Like… Your speech skills are just fine, even with your Passion at 2. Will increasing that really help you out? And we’re still not completely sure what Order does. That stat is an utter waste until we do.”
“Cunning, then…” Aerion said.
I tapped my arm. “Definitely worth trying, at least. We know Cunning relates to awareness. Yours is pretty dang good… Aside from one obvious exception.
Aerion nodded. “Reave.”
“Yep. We’ve seen that ranking up has helped with that somewhat… Maybe Cunning does as well. I can’t be sure, but it’s at least worth a shot.”
“Agreed,” Aerion said. “Then I shall put 10 additional points into Cunning, leaving 7 in reserve.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, giving her a double thumbs-up.
Aerion rolled her eyes, before giving me an appraising look. “I’ve said it before, but your knowledge of these mechanics is truly impressive. To think you learned all this from games in your world… It must be quite a world.”
I smiled. “I suppose you would get that impression after all you heard from Richard. Someone mechanically minded like you would have a heyday there. My world has technologies you wouldn’t believe… But it’s got its fair share of issues, too. As bad as Axius? Maybe not. But it’s certainly not perfect. People tend to invent problems, no matter how good life is.”
Aerion chuckled. “Quite true. Are you certain you haven’t secretly improved your Wisdom stat?”
“Hey, you can see my screen anytime! I have no secrets.”
Aerion rolled her eyes. “So? Shall we get to training, or would you rather dawdle the day away? I must admit, I’ve been itching to fight you.”
“Yeah. Me too. But first, some ground rules. I’m trying to improve my Grace stat, and you Dominion. Which means I’m gonna move around fast, and you should try to hit me while moving as little as possible. I can’t be sure, but I feel like that’ll boost your Dominion more than if you had to split your combat experience between Dominion and other stats.”
“An interesting conjecture,” Aerion said, nodding approvingly. “Another learning from your game experience?”
“Something like that. Also, give me your steel shortsword—the one you picked up in the dungeon. And your spare dagger. Actually, why don’t you gimme Aurora, too?”
“You wish me to fight barehanded?”
“Come on, with your Dominion stat, that’s hardly crippling. Even without [Reave]. And you’ve got magic of your own. You just upped your Wisdom, right? It’ll be the perfect practice.”
Aerion, moping, reluctantly agreed, handing over her weapons, which I swiftly deposited into my inventory, giving me a small arsenal of pointy objects to work with. For good measure, I walked around, picking up stones and pebbles by the dozen. Luckily, the field was strewn with them, though most were partially buried.
As I walked around gathering stones, ignoring Aerion’s suspicious stares, part of me realized the issue with what I was about to attempt. I was testing both my new suit and my inventory together, despite my suit being a speed-based build, and my inventory being magical in nature. To truly maximize my inventory’s combat power, I’d likely need a suit that let me dump points into Wisdom.
For now, however, the hundred-off stones of various types would at least see what [Launch] was all about.
Taking up positions fifteen feet apart on the field, I gave the signal.
“Begin.”
----------------------------------------
Aerion rushed at me, just as I thought she would. Instead of parrying or blocking her incoming punch, I dodged. Considering how my Grace stat was the same as before—I needed to earn any upgrades there—I wasn’t expecting much.
Turned out [Snap]’s movement speed upgrade was beyond anything I’d expected. Far beyond. Even at a paltry F - 6. My whole body wasn’t just light and nimble… I moved faster now. A lot faster.
I felt almost superhuman. Similar to how I felt when I took off my armor and then put it back on again.
At 27, my Grace wasn’t anything to scoff at, but neither was it anywhere even close to the Dominion Aerion possessed. By all rights, I shouldn’t have felt this good. Which meant that the effect must be stacking with every piece of armor in the set.
That was to say… [Snap] didn’t just accelerate my whole body… It was five times as powerful as before!
I dodged Aerion’s strike with ease, pivoting behind her for a follow-up. She whirled, stopping me, but I was gone again, now at her side. I still hadn’t drawn any of my weapons…
Just when I was about to move again, I got a notification.
Congratulations! Grace has increased from 27 to 28.
That was… unexpected. It shouldn’t have gone up that fast, based on prior experience. Or maybe I’d already been close to a levelup before?
I jumped back, forcing Aerion to follow. Right as she landed, I bounded away again. Not quite leaping, not quite stepping, but something in between.
We darted around the field like this, with her chasing. The feeling was incredible. Intoxicating, even. If I was moving this well at my current stats, what would I be like later on? What would I be like when [Snap] leveled and ranked up? I’d be untouchable on the battlefield.
I cackled, giddy with excitement.
I was so lost in my head that I only noticed Aerion some moments later, darting every which way.
“How am I supposed to stand still when you move so much?” Aerion fumed, punching again, only to miss as I twisted away at the last moment. “I have nothing that can hit you at range!”
That… Was true. And was honestly a shortcoming we had to address at some point. I bet with Aeiron’s Dominion, she could heft a pretty epic bow. Something to look into later. Maybe I should—
Congratulations! Grace has increased from 28 to 29.
No way. There was no way my stats were increasing this quickly. The heck was going on?
Then it hit me. The Soul Evolution Seed. It had to be.
I didn’t have time to contemplate, as Aerion swept me with her leg, forcing me to jump.
“Gotcha!” she said, launching herself right at me with a smug smirk plastered across her face.
Shit. I couldn’t move in midair. The error was my fault, but I had to admit, Aerion had capitalized beautifully on the opportunity.
She left me only one move. A move that I’d been dying to test out. I almost felt bad for the elf. Almost.
I extended my palm and invoked my ability.
Launch.
A barrage of stones shot out at incredible speed from all around me. Some big, others small. All lethal. All traveling faster than I could track.
Time seemed to slow in that moment. I saw Aerion’s eyes bulge in horror, and she barely managed to bring her arms up in a guard before the devastating projectiles smashed into her figure.
They didn’t simply cancel out her jump. They sent her flying, sailing in an arc through the air before crashing into the ground. She flipped end over end until she crashed in a heap.
I looked around, dazed in shock.
The rocks that hadn’t hit her hadn’t simply vanished. They’d struck the earth, sending clouds of dirt flying high into the air.
As the dust slowly fell, I gazed at the remains of what used to be our training field.
Because what surrounded me was no longer a field. It looked like a ravaged battlefield.
A battlefield that had been ravaged by heavy artillery fire.
I wondered why she hadn’t said anything.
Then my eyes found her.
I’d fucked up. I’d underestimated the sheer destructive potential of my new ability. Badly.
Because my elven friend was lying facedown on the ravaged field.
And she wasn’t moving.