“Only the ones who walk out of a battle have the option to choose to drag out others. If you can't hold your own, you're of no use to our company.” - Mercenary Cho Vu during recruitment duels

Aster

Time felt like it moved slowly as the arrow made its way through the air, and I knew Josh could tell something was up. But even with as many attribute points as he had in intelligence and wisdom, he didn't realize what it was until he knocked the arrow to the side with his sword, breaking the shaft. The moment was enough disturbance to the active rune to trigger it, and it went off only feet from him.

The hours that went into the small intricate carvings on the tip were not put to waste. The runes for water and freeze worked the way I had planned. Water burst from the air at the tip of the arrow in a small sphere only a few feet wide; it only had a second to distort before the frost rune froze it solid. Josh, who had less than a second to start to move, had his off-hand still in the water when it froze. He was forced into a hunched, awkward stance as the ice and his hand was dragged down by gravity.

I wasted no time in storing my bow and moving in, using Stalkers Movement to dash to the side and then towards him and taking a swing at his chest. The sharpened scales acting as claws for my knuckles were brought up short as the stick Josh held met them.

“This is great! A new trick, but an explosion or some form of gas might have worked out better.” Josh said, his voice way too joyful for someone in his position.

I didn't respond, instead grabbing the stick and holding onto it as I brought my other fist around aimed at his chest.

As frustrating as it was to fight him and lose over and over, it wasn't a real fight, and he wasn't a monster, so I wasn't aiming actually to hurt him much. The cracking noise caught me by surprise, and Josh's hand reaching up to catch my fist, ice still falling from it, was enough of a shock to leave me staring at it dumbly as I tried to understand how he'd broken the ice that fast. His grin and innocent expression were enough for even me to realize what he'd done. I felt a spark of anger rise up as I let go of his stick, and he let go of my fist as I moved backward a few feet.

He'd used his strength, his full strength, not just the grade two limit he'd imposed.

“That's cheating, a grade two couldn't do that.” I accused.

Josh laughed as he raised the stick. “Cheating? It's not a game when you fight, and there's no such thing as cheating when your life's on the line. It doesn't matter how many underhanded moves you have to pull as long as you come out on top.” He didn't leave me time to think about the words as he moved in.

I blocked the first blow in the palm of my hand, the scales taking all the momentum of the attack away, but before I could respond, he brought down his fist, forcing me to move backward or take the blow. Josh left me no room to pull my bow out or make use of Stalkers Movement, each of his attacks forcing me back another step. When I managed to dodge his stick and finally get an opening to swing at his inner arm, a spray of dirt kicked up by his boots met my eyes, followed by an unpleasant hit to my ribs that definitely would leave a bruise for a few days. As I rubbed the dirt free, he spoke again.

“Arrows and fist will only get you as far as you're willing to use them. The Realm Event will have people with thousands of gold worth of training and equipment, and even your dragon won't be the only bond going in. If you can't be relied on to put down who you need to, you're a risk to the people you travel with.”

As my vision cleared, I glared up at Josh, snarling. I was only a grade one. What he was saying made no sense, asking me to be able to fight a grade four and what? Win? I felt my anger get the better of me, and I moved forward without a thought in my mind besides leaking a mark on his face. There was a slight pull on the bond, a proposal from her offering help, but I rejected the offer. If Josh thought I wasn't enough, I'd show him. He'd taken up a spot in the middle of the dirt pit, his stick raised in guard as if he held a sword.

Baring my teeth, I started a dead sprint at him, and when I was only feet away, I used Stalkers Movement. I wasn't anywhere heavy enough to normally knock down the man, and even with the momentum of the skill, I'd be hard-pressed to push someone two feet taller than me with his build over, but I wasn't thinking and didn't care.

I hit him with all the strength I could, my fist aimed at his chin. Of course, he brought his stick up to block the attack, and the sound of scale biting into wood sounded. My other fist, which I tried to use to pull the stick out of his grip, was grabbed by Josh's free hand.

He looked disappointed as we ended up in the same spot and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as I moved my head in close and bit him. The move was so out of the blue that he didn't respond as My teeth sunk into his arm. The skin resisted for a moment longer than normal before it gave way, and as blood filled my mouth, I realized in an instant what I'd done, the anger and rage leaving and being replaced with revulsion. Letting go and taking a step back, I started spitting out what I could. I'd just bitten him.

[Through rabid attacks and unusual fighting, your skill, Hand Combat - Rank 6, has Increased to Hand Combat - Rank 7.]

Josh had a dumbfounded look on his face as he raised his arm and looked at the blood that slowly ran down to his elbow and onto the dirt.

I didn't know how to apologize, and my mouth worked as I forced out the only word I could think of. “Sorry.”

Josh looked over to me, and his surprise slowly gave way to a small grin that grew into what Kat would call a shit-eating grin as he started laughing so hard he bent over. He tried to speak a few times but cut himself off with more laughing.

“In all the years and stories about training recruits and nobles, this is one I'd never been warned about. Damn, I owe Graves a gold coin for that kid.” He must have seen the expression of pure confusion and some panic because he waved a hand dismissively at the mark as he continued to speak, “Oh, don't look so surprised. Each recruit in any personal training goes through some variations of that speech, and most act the same way you did, just not to the point of biting. Wait till the others hear about this.”

I felt a bit of heat rise up to my cheeks as I looked at Umbra before looking back. She was no help as she thought biting someone was perfectly natural. Even with wolves in Kulni’s pack, drawing blood was seen as going too far in a play fight.

“So all of this was to get me upset, to be reckless? Did I go too far?” My head was tilted as I tried to understand what had just gone down. Josh had been purposely making me angry, but why?

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, don't worry, it was deserved and well done. As for going too far? In any type of spar, yes. Even when taunted or disgraced, you need to keep a level head. On the other hand, had it been an actual fight to the death or on a battlefield, then going for the neck would be a better idea. If you're going to go feral, then go all out.” Josh seemed to find the last line amusing as he chuckled again as the stick vanished from his hand.

Turning to Umbra, I could tell she was just as confused. In the past months, she had been with me every time I'd spared or trained with Josh, and he'd been distant like the rest, even if he made more jokes. Now, out of nowhere, he was acting more friendly than Kat.

“What's going on?” I asked as I took off my gloves and moved out of the dirt pit. It was evident that no other sparing was going to happen for right now.

“Graves asked me to go over the second advancement with you. Before I did, I wanted to get one last spar in to give all of your skills a bit more experience before your advancement tomorrow.”

I felt a jolt of excitement. Virtually no information had been given to me about advancements in The academy or by anyone in the camp, though no one had told me why. It seemed that was going to change now.

“Let's take a seat. This is going to take a minute, and I'm sure Graves is busy explaining it at the camp,” Josh said, gesturing to a set of stones.

As I sat down, Umbra moved over and settled near us, interested as well. My anger at Josh was long gone, replaced by anticipation. “Why's it such a big deal that everyone keeps it secret?” I asked after a long moment of waiting for him to speak.

Josh, who had taken to stretching on the rock, snorted, but he finally spoke, “It's not really a secret. It's more of a restriction for the younger generation. The system is very giving but is also very strict with its rules. I hope you know when you go up a grade, you gain more attribute points a level, but it gets harder to gain skills that have no correlation to your class?”

I nodded. That was one of the few things that had been shared and the reason I'd picked up the crafting skills I wanted.

“Well, also, each advancement gives you a special unlock. Grade two, for example, allows for the gaining of free skill points that you can spend to upgrade or unlock skills related to your class that you don't yet have.”

“You mean we're going to be able to buy skills like the ones classes start with?” I felt my mouth open slightly as I turned to Umbra. There had been a course at the academy that had vaguely hinted at the ability to buy skills, but I'd thought they'd meant smaller skills, not full-class skills.

“Yes, although it's not as helpful as you might think, while it's a big step in abilities, you're only given options dependent on class, level, and rarity. The cost for each skill will range quite wide. That's not the only thing, though. At grade two, the system also gives the ability to see your base attributes and more directly affect them. I believe you were told about those?”

Bobbing my head, I thought back to the explanation. Base attributes are what make working out, size, studying, and altogether training effect exactly. It was also why monsters were stronger, even if they tended to be the same level.

A good example I'd been told would be a grade one human having a hundred strength but a 1.0 attribute and a Giant Forest Spider having a hundred strength but a 1.2 base attribute. The spider would effectively have 120 strength.

“Why was this kept a secret? I mean, it's important, but couldn't people work towards improving their attributes and leveling skills that can't be level with the skill points?” I asked.

Josh pointed a finger at me. “That's exactly why, for whatever reason, the system wants people to develop naturally, and telling people about what a grade unlocks has been proven to hurt that type of growth. Anytime it's written in a book, it's erased, and anytime someone mentions it intentionally around a person below that grade, they get, at minimum, an experience debuff that lasts for months. Still, people have even lost levels because of it.”

That seemed crazy. I wasn't one that would claim to understand the system, but that seemed direct for something that hardly interfered in most other ways. Then I thought about what he'd just said, and my eyes widened.

“Does that mean the system hurt your growth because of you explaining this?”

Josh tilted his hand, making a so-so gesture. “Yes, but no. The system takes into account a lot of aspects, including how close the person is to advancing, and seems to understand that this is something that needs to be explained at some point. In fact, after grade three, there are no limits on knowledge imposed by the system, but that's all I can say about it. As for the debuff, I received one, but it's only a few percent and lasts only a week.”

I relaxed and smiled, happy that he hadn't suffered because of this. “Why tell us now, then? Wouldn't it be better just to tell us after our advancement?”

“Usually yes, but after a discussion, we decided with the realm event coming up that giving this knowledge before ranking up could prove useful,” Josh explained.

There was a moment of silence in the clearing after his words as he gave us some time to think. With the information I had now, did it really change anything before my advancement? No, If anything, nothing really changed. Had I known earlier, I might have done a bit more in some ways, but not much.

“Does this change anything for you?” I asked Umbra through the bond, receiving a mental shrug in response.

“These new things the grade provides don't seem to change anything, and if they could, it would have had to be said very early on. I think there's something he's not telling us about the advancement, whether it's because they can't or don't want to, I don't know.”

Tilting my head towards Umbra, I blinked at her in surprise. How could she tell that? Looking back at Josh, I tried to see anything that would tell me he was keeping a secret, but his face looked normal, and there was nothing I could see. I'd ask her later how she knew.

“So, does this change the plan for tomorrow?” I asked Josh

“Not particularly. After you, Kat, and Umbra here gain your last level, there will be the usual check on classes, and then you'll all start the advancement.”

The way Josh explained it seemed simple enough, but I really knew that this was a big upcoming choice. What classes I'd be offered and what I'd pick would affect the rest of my life.

Kat

Rolling my eyes, I sighed at Graves ' words. Not even children of royalty had been told about this, and there was still a valley of secrets that waited in grade three. Skill points would be useful if they worked the way I thought I did.

As interesting as all of the grade two unlocks were, it wasn't what we were really here to talk about. “Uncle Graves, If you really wanted to discuss only this, it would have been better to do it with Aster.”

Graves gave his goto expression, a small smile that said I'd hit the nail on the head. Of course, he could hide the smile easily enough. He was, of course, a grade four or higher. He never admitted to breaking through if he had.

“I was hoping you would pick that up. We need to talk about the event and your brother. These are things the girl can't know.”

I straightened up at his words, adjusting my posture subconsciously, sitting the proper way anyone should at a royal dinner.

“My brother? Do you mean Ren? Has anything happened?”

Graves snorted. “With Arlya by his side at all times, there's hardly a thing that could scratch him. No he'll be arriving at our camp some point in the next week. His plans are laid and are set to take place during the event.”

A nervous tingle ran through my body with how casually Graves mentioned the plans that would result in thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lives that would be lost if anything went wrong. Ren's plans, after all, were nothing short of a civil war.