182. BOND SKILLS: WIREMU.

The Warrior Class is a very good basic Class. It gives me five attribute points. Two are assigned to Physical Strength, one to Mental Strength, and two are free. No additional Skills are given with basic classes. The Mental Strength is needed for my Roleplay Skill and to bolster my Status Manipulation so that no one can see the truth in my status. What I need is a Skill to pierce other people’s statuses.

I now have four Basic classes, which is unusual. Hunter, Quarry Worker, Spy and Warrior. Hunter has Specialised in Monster Hunter, Scout and Assassin. Quarry Worker has specialised in Prospector. Spy only needs one more level for me to be able to specialise in it, and a Status piercing Skill is possible through this. I also need to boost my Mental Perception as this is the key attribute to a Status piercing Skill. All my Attributes are now in their 30’s except my two highest. Physical Perception is 45, and Physical Strength is 52.

Attributes enable and empower Skills. Levelling Skills are what multiplies your effectiveness. I have been especially concentrating on my new Thermal Sensing and using it in Combat. Sensing the disruptions in the thermal currents in the air can alert me to a sneak attack, but it is bloody hard. Thermal Sensing started in the Apprentice levels, which allowed me to sense air currents properly, but when you are fighting or even just sparring, there are a lot of disturbed air currents. You must also concentrate on other things, or you will get your ass handed to you. Thermal Sensing must be automatic. I am making progress. It is now Level 7, and my range and sensitivity have improved.

We were three days out of Kirghiz when Appā beat Mutalil to get the Hunter Class. Age and wisdom still outdid youth and energy. On the trip, I was also helping them with their bonds, using my new skills Analyse Bonds and Bond Care. Those are difficult Skills to level. A bond is a partnership. I have discovered not all partnerships are equal partners, but there is always give and take. When Tāoke and I first bonded, it was not an equal partnership. He was a baby viper; I carried and protected him a lot. Koza and Velikan helped me realise I was sheltering him too much and that he was also a hunter. Then he became a Venom Serpent, and the bond went to a whole new level. It is that sort of growth I want to encourage through my Bond Care Skill. The Skill has not levelled, as I have only used it to break one unsuitable bond. I have not worked out how to use it to encourage and nurture growth.

Analyse Bond is different. That is at Level 5 now. I used it to examine bonds and the strength and flow of energy through the bond. Tāoke is primarily a physical being, so the energy flowing through our bond is primarily physical. That is why Tāoke can pull on me to get Strength Boost, and I had venom skills from him. Puia is an Elemental, and they are primarily Spiritual Beings The flow of energy through our bond is primarily Spiritual. I say primarily because, in all cases, we are made up of all three attributes. This raises the question of whether there are Mental bonds as well.

Puia being mainly Spiritual, only had the Skill Molten Rock when we bonded. He was Molten Rock. That was his identity. He was also a newly formed Elemental. He has learned from me Thermal Manipulation and Granite Manipulation, both strongly Spiritual Skills. I learned Molten Rock from him, which I turned into Lava Dart. Molten Rock has also influenced a lot of other skills, Granite Sensing, Thermal Sensing, Thermal Manipulation (Mineral), and of course, my Granite Armour.

I looked at Tabitha and Nyx’s bond before I left. Nyx seems to be a Spiritual being but also has a larger Mental part. The energy flowing through the bond is a mix. That is where the Mimic part comes from. I don’t know whether this is normal for Shadow Elementals or if it is something unique to Nyx. I assume there will be variations in elementals like there are in people.

Puia is Spiritual first and then Physical, being molten rock. Seeing the physical component of the bond had me rethinking that Puia could, in fact, learn Venom. One of the most dangerous things about a volcanic eruption is the release of poisonous gasses. That is something we will work on.

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Analyse Bond broke through to apprentice level when I looked at the flavour of the bonds. The Griffon and Otto bond was flavoured as a strong, forceful wind. It is affected by affinity. Tabitha and Nyx were light wispy shadows. Tabitha and Dusk were fast shadows. Tāoke and I were of poisonous rock, and Puia and I were creeping rock. The bond between Puia and Tāoke was poisonous creeping rock. I really wish I had thought to analyse Dusk and Nyx’s bond.

Not everybody has affinities, so what is the flavour of Appā and Ṭirākkar’s bond? I got the impression of the watchful guardian. Mutalil and Āṟṟal gave more along the lines of fierce fighting. So these bonds give me an insight into their personality type and relationship. Otto had forced a bond and had a domineering wind. For a healthy bond, there needs to be a connection in personalities. This gives me a clue that the first level of Bond Care is only to encourage bonds between similar personality types.

I remember Ört trying to find a bond for Skavt, and a bond she could ride was right, but several horses wouldn’t bond. Animals seem to have an instinct about this. It would have been unhealthy if a horse had been forced to bond. Skavt needed something wilder.

Elementals are obviously different. They don’t have emotions as such. They have benefits, and I basically had to talk Puia into a bond. I am not sure if Tabitha and Nyx were the same. Elementals have a much longer life span, giving a different perspective. I keep thinking about the Rock Elemental we killed before we got to Jern. Could I have bonded with that? I will never know.

I will have a chance to test this theory out soon as Najprej’s bond Borec gave birth to four wolf cubs just before I left. Our Caravan Master, Selma and her two scouts want to try bonding with them. The cubs will probably be old enough when they get to Kirghiz.

All these thoughts of bonds and Skills obviously encouraged experimentation. The trouble was Puia, Tāoke, and I could only experiment where we wouldn’t start a ground fire. Stream beds were good, or where there were particular rocky areas. I would start by getting naked so I didn’t burn my clothes. I would start with the Granite Armour and try varying things, like the thickness and different sections. I would use Thermal Sensing to get a feel of what this did to the currents. I would get Appā and Mutalil to attack me, and I created Granite Shields while keeping an eye on my energy levels. Thinner armour required less energy and was much easier to use. I got Granite Armour to Apprentice level, which reduced the cost.

Then I would get Puia to take form. He was Master Level in Molten Rock, so he could create a lot. I had him take the form of a horse, and we would go riding. He was only about as fast as Mosey, but that was pretty good. We tried other forms as well. The six-legged beetle was good over rough terrain and of moderate speed. The Eight-legged spider was slower but could go anywhere. Staying on was easy as I merged my Granite Armour with it. The legs of the spider were a weakness as they were thin. But Puia could rebuild them quickly.

Tāoke learned Granite Armour from me, but his was segmented like his scales. It slowed him down because he didn’t have the oil glands he did in his skin. He could thicken the armour enough, so I could ride him, but it wasn’t practical compared to Puia’s forms. It was better that he and I both rode Puia. He had Lava Spit, and I had Lava Dart. His large form could strike a long way from on top of Puia. Puia then learned Granite Spike and could spike from his riding forms.

Granite Armour and Lava mounts played havoc with Thermal Senses inside a 10m radius.

Then there was the vaporised Venom. We almost killed Mutalil’s bond Āṟṟal by accident. After that, we were much more careful in our practice. Thermal Sensing told me exactly where the wind was blowing, and heating the venom to create a vapour killed plants and animals. It dispersed fast, so it would be better in enclosed spaces. We practised until all three of us gained the Skill Venom Vapour.

I thought about it and realised that all my skills were lethal. What if I wanted to capture someone? I could make Granite cages. I examined the cuffs I had appropriated. They were a mixture of materials, and I couldn’t work out what. I would need to take them to an appropriately specialised Blacksmith. I couldn’t replicate them, but I could make my own. My Granite and lava were highly Spiritual, and the best thing was I didn’t need to make a key, eliminating a weakness. Granite manipulation will open and close them without burning their wrist to the bone.