Chapter 54
The Counties were one week away.
In the last few days, I had gone through one of the most hellish training I had ever put myself through, and the results were showing. I had managed to level up from just barely Level 32 to midway through Level 34, but even with all those new Levels, I was still too low leveled for the Counties. Boni had told me that only someone who had broken through to Level 40 could hope to win in the Counties. I wasn’t sure he meant a single fight, or the whole thing.
Due to the irregularity of who and how many people qualified for the next level of The Grand Competition, I knew that I had to be in the finals for me to have any hope of making it through. And that meant that I had to get to Level 40 before or during the Counties, otherwise, I would be a goner.
But I was already struggling to gain new Levels while I was as low as Level 32, I couldn’t imagine what I would have to go through to gain over five Levels in the coming days, or weeks.
Most of my gains were in the Attributes. [Agility] had somehow managed to gain a level even though I didn’t have access to the same kind of training environment, or resources, I had had back in Yange. The cones really had come through in the end, I hoped so.
[Constitution] and [Endurance] had both gained two levels each. With the introduction of weights into my training regime, I didn’t have that much energy to work on the two like I had done before. Still, I did enough for them to see significant increases, after all, I hadn’t skipped any day of training at all. Even the days I went to the library, I did it after exhausting my Stamina out in the fields.
[Intelligence] had seen one of the most levels gained during that time, a healthy four. I attributed most of that equally to the amount I spend in the library reading about Mana and Skills, though I did get distracted nearly every time I went there, and my efforts in [Mana Cultivation]. I was still struggling with the basics of it, but the more I worked on it, the better I found myself using the Skills I already had. Maybe that was the reason I wasn’t gaining that many levels in the Skills department. Who knows?
[Strength] was the biggest gainer, and it was obvious why. After lagging behind ever since I began training for The Grand Competition, I was finally able to exercise it properly. And it was responded very well to the training I was going through. I just hoped that kind of progress would hold on for a while longer.
[Vitality] still perplexed me on how to work on it, and I was a little scared of asking other people for help. And I somehow never seemed to remember to look it up while I was in the library. Without having gained any levels during that time, I was afraid that it might end up being my lowest Attribute overall.
[Wisdom] was the most surprising of all my Attributes for having only gained a single level after everything I had done, from learning two new Skills, [Mana Shield] and [Mana Slash], to working on them until they were leveled up enough they could be used with effect in the fights. They too must be what Clare referred to as basic and simple Skills.
[Mana Shield] had gained four levels while [Mana Slash] gained six. Only a few of the other Skills had gained a level, I had really neglected the Skills during those few days.
…
“Two Levels!?” Sunshine exclaimed as we trudged through the streets. “It hasn’t even been a week, what have you been up to?”
I had somehow picked her up when I was leaving the Inn for Xan’s, but it was more that she forced herself to tag along even after I repeatedly told her I was conducting personal business.
“Mhm…” I said nonchalantly as I kept pace with her.
After leaving the Inn, we had walked around Choska for over an hour before I had been forced to admit that I was completely lost and had no idea where I was going anymore. She had responded by saying that she thought that I was doing a poor job of trying to lose her.
I had still insisted, but when it came to stating where I was headed to, I realized that I didn’t even know the name of the place. Had I ever known it? I couldn’t recall that either. I described the place as much as I could from the vague memory I had of it. And Sunshine had begun moving in a determined pace, I assumed she knew the place.
“Wait… you checked my Level?” I asked like an idiot. Clearly she had, both times that we had met. “Can I check yours?”
“What?” she asked, as we took a corner to a street that looked vaguely familiar, not that I could trust my memory anymore after it had led me astray.
“Your Level, can I check it?” I repeated. I knew I could check with no complaints from her, but old habits die hard.
“Yeah, sure,” she waved me off as if the question was a bother to her.
‘Clare, [Status].’
‘
[Hybrid : Sunshine][Level: 39]
Status:
[HP: 7449/7461]
[MP: 7081/7199]
[SP: 7358/7461]
’
Well, that was something. Level 39? And with the numbers she had, her base Attributes for those had to be at least Level 40. Maybe only barely above it, but still. It also meant that she had a more balanced built than I did. Based on what Boni had said, she had a much better chance of winning the whole thing than I did, way much better.
“Wait… why does it say hybrid for you?” I asked her after I got over our Level difference.
“Because I’m one!?” she said as she rounded yet another corner, and I was sure we were heading in the right direction because I was sure the building I was looking at was the concert hall we visited on my first day in Choska City. “How low leveled is your [Identify] anyway?”
“Level 1,” I tried to mumble it, but I was still relieved after realizing that we were actually on tract to Xan’s that it came out loud enough for her to pick it up.
And she stopped dead in tracks, forcing me to abruptly sidestep and twirl just to avoid hitting her, I still grazed her though. I must have gained experience in [Agility] there.
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“What did you say? I think I heard you wrong,” she said as she recovered from her shock.
I didn’t get what was so shocking about having a low-leveled Skill, didn’t everyone start there. Besides, one could easily choose that a particular Skill was not worth leveling and let it decay on its own. I didn’t think there was any decay beyond level 1 though.
“Level 1.”
She blinked a few times before finding her words again, “How? Don’t you use it all? I had mine leveled up to level 10 by the time I was eight years old.”
I shook my head as I asked, “How high is it now?”
“An impressive 15,” she said with so much confidence I was momentarily rendered speechless. The number was high too.
“And how old are you?”
That was the most obvious next question. If she had managed to get to level 10 by eight years of age, assuming she was at least sixteen years old, clearly not, it should have been around level 20. Unless levelling Skills too became harder the higher level they got.
“Twenty,” she said as her mood sobered up a little. “What about you?”
“What about me?” I asked in feigned ignorance.
“How old are you?” she asked, and I could hear irritation creep in to her voice. I really had that effect on people, didn’t I?
Looking ahead, I saw what I was sure was the entrance to where Xan stayed, unless he changed his place of residence in the few days we hadn’t seen each other. Finally, I thought as I quickened my pace to get out of the streets as fast as I could.
“Hey! You can’t just ask for my age and fail to tell me yours. That is sensitive information, even the System doesn’t dare show that!” she said as she hurried up to catch up to me. “Hey! Get back here!”
Yeah, I didn’t wait for her. If age was such a sensitive piece of information, then how did she expect me to tell her while she was shouting in the middle of the street. Besides, she should have kept hers to herself.
I knew I couldn’t really lose her, and by the time I made it to Xan’s floor, she was already on me. Arriving at what I thought was Xan’s door, I knocked a few times and waited for what felt like minutes.
When no answer came, I decided to try and open the door. Imbuing a little of my Mana at the lock and the door unlocked. He clearly hadn’t removed me as a resident of the room
“Wait… you have access to the room?” Sunshine asked as I went to push the door open.
“I told you it was personal,” I said, as I turned to stare at her hesitant stance behind me.
“I didn’t think it was that kind of personal.”
“Well, it is.”
“You didn’t strike me as that kind of person,” she said, and I could clearly see that she was squirming were she stood.
We were most definitely not talking about the same thing; it was time to clear the air before certain unwanted assumptions were made. I was sure some had already reached conclusion levels.
“What is this kind of, kind of you keep talking about?”
“You know… the kind who has sex.”
That brought me up straight for so many reasons. “What’s that even supposed to mean?”
Before she could come up with an answer to give me, another person made their presence know.
“Hartie!! This is a… surprise.” What was with that pause? He straightened himself before extending a hand to Sunshine. “Hey, I’m Xan. Who might you be?”
“I’m Sunshine.” Even from the name, I could see gears turning in Xan’s brain, as she let go of his hand to gesture at me. “I’m here with him.”
I could already hear it long before he said anything. “Hartie, you know we are friends, really close friends, but could you not use this room for your escapades? Don’t you have a room where you can contact such affairs? I’m the only one allowed to contact such affairs here.”
“Escapades? What’s wrong with you?” I asked, turning my gaze from on to the other. “This one doesn’t think I’m capable of having of sex. You, on the other hand, you see me with a member of the opposite sex and the first thing you think about is that I’m about to have sex with her.”
“She said she is here with you,” he said, as he gestured with his head towards Sunshine.
“Yes, in that we came here together!” I nearly exclaimed in irritation, how had it come to this? “Nothing else, most definitely not for the lewd thoughts going through your head right now.”
“Yeah, what he said” she said, seeming to have recovered from her earlier issues with the arrival of Xan. “Besides, I prefer my partners feminine.”
I knew it was made to ease things, but where Xan was concerned, that didn’t help at all. No, it made this worse in fact.
“He’s feminine enough.”
Of course, he’d say that.
“Let me be clear,” Sunshine rushed to add. “I like my partners to be of the female gender.”
“Oh…” Xan thought about it for a moment before finally saying, “glad we cleared that up.”
I gestured towards the room as I said, “Can we go in now? We are drawing undue attention.”
I really was beyond my limit of being embarrassed, if we kept the conversation going in the corridor, I wasn’t sure I could be able to maintain my human form for long.
“There is no one around,” Xan said as he checked both sides of the corridor.
“In my head!” I screamed at him as I walked into the room. “And for future reference, I see Sunny as a big sister.”
“Big sister! Mesily no! I’m little sister.”
I was just glad that was what she focused on, and not the slip of a nickname that I had used for her. Maybe other people actually called her that. Or she could be like me and not prefer a nickname at all.
“But you are the powerful feral ferocious apex predator, clearly, you are the big sister.”
“Just because I’m all that doesn’t mean I have to be the big sister.”
“What is with the both of you shucking the responsibility of being the older sibling? Don’t you know how fun it can be?”
“What? No!” I’m not sure whether I said it, or Sunshine did. Maybe we both did.
Xan raised his hands in surrender as he settled down in the large sofa, mumbling, “I can see this working out perfectly.”
“Is it done?” I asked as I took one of the single sofa away from the door, and near the second bedroom I had used during my stay in the room.
“Really? We haven’t seen each for a few days, and I don’t even get a ‘how have you been?’”
“I don’t know what you do in your free time for me to ask you that,” I said.
“That’s precisely why you ask that,” he countered.
“No, I need to know what you do so I can figure out whether or not I need to ask you that,” I threw back at him.
“And when you don’t know?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Then I don’t ask altogether.”
“Your sense of social priority is really messed up,” Xan dryly commented, getting up and disappearing into the second bedroom. When he came out, he threw a bundle of teal at me. “There, what you came for.”
I slowly opened up the bundle to present its content to myself, the torsoplate and vambraces, all dyed teal. Before I could inspect them, I heard a weird sound come from where Sunshine was sitting. I looked up to find her staring unblinking at me, her mouth slightly open.
“Is that… the personal matter?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
She slumped down on the sofa, resting her head on her right hand, “You are going to kill me.”
“Welcome to the team,” Xan said as he finally settled back on his sofa, handing a glass of water to Sunshine.
Who took it gladly, asking, “Where do I sign out?”
[+][+][+]
[Species: Human]
[Name: Hartie]
[Sex: Male]
[Level: 34]
Status:
[HP: 4799/4799]
[MP: 5477/5477]
[SP: 7410/7461]
Attributes:
[Agility: 40]
[Constitution: 34]
[Endurance: 41]
[Intelligence: 33]
[Strength: 26]
[Vitality: 30]
[Wisdom: 35]
General Skills [4/4]:
[Health Regeneration: 3]
[Identify: 1]
[Language Proficiency: 4]
[Mana Manipulation: 9]
Primary Skills:
[Daggers: 7]
[Enhanced Hand: 8]
[Earth Grab: 10]
[Fast Dash: 8]
[Fire Ball: 10]
[Hurtling Projectile: 12]
[Staff Strike: 9]
[Staffs: 14]
[Unarmed Combat: 8]
[Wind Gust: 10]
Other Skills:
[Acrobatics: 7]
[Archery: 3]
[Bludgeons: 3]
[Carpentry: 3]
[Enhance Plant Growth: 3]
[Fire Bolt: 8]
[Herbalism: 3]
[Mana Shield: 4]
[Mana Slash: 6]
[Shield: 2]
[Spears: 3]
[Stealth: 2]
[Staff Making: 6]
[Staff Shield: 7]
[Water Ball: 5]
[Water Punch: 8]
[Weeding: 8]
[Whirlpool: 4]