Interface and I spent a few more minutes discussing what those increases in rank would actually do. I’m not invulnerable, but I was impressed. The regens alone were mind-boggling.
Familiar voices greeted me from across the cavern. I opened my eyes to see four members of my team and my Master. “Hi, again, everyone. And Hello, Master Birch.” As they continued walking toward me, Arrjee asked me jokingly if Interface was done telling me all the secret stuff. I smiled back at him. “Yes. There is not too much that is actually secret. Someone with their Analyze at B could know most of it.”
I noted that my team had changed out of their armor, most into the loincloths and sandals they typically wear. Sun was in a brown serape and slightly darker-brown leather kilt. Onre was wearing the charmed boots that were his gift from Skawa; apparently Arrjee felt no need to casually wear his enchanted boots. Lenyet had a loincloth, sandals and a vest, one with a surprisingly festive pattern that would not have been out of place on a Hawaiin shirt.
First Skawa’s tartan-patterned kilt, and now this. Is drab and utilitarian going out of style?
I enjoy observing variance.
“So do I. I just got … not used to it.”
Lenyet began speaking to me sternly. “Forrest, I have heard that you acted very rashly this afternoon. With very little forethought you took a great risk to your own safety, rushing to assist Norrus Loruste from a circumstance you did not understand.” His facial expression changed from frowning to flat. “I further understand that you did it without your thumb up your ass.” Smiling, “Well done, wolf.”
That’s a relief. I thought he was angry.
Fortunately, you kept both thumbs visible.
I explained that expression as they all began sitting on the ground in a semicircle, facing Abbie and me. Lenyet explained his presence. “Your Father told me that Norrus was hurt, aged by some unknown force. He said you managed to save him, and I came to campus to visit the young wolf. I found his mother and Harron outside his apartment. They quickly explained what had happened to her son. He needed to rest after eating, and at the moment he and Ferret were in meditation.”
He is not going to be able to move around on his own for a while.
I interrupted Lenyet with the thought that he would be having a lot of time to do that and train other skills which wouldn’t require him to move.
“Vosrin and Harran had gone outside to discuss his training and other general plans. They thought it would be best if I visit him some time tomorrow. Vosrin suggested I speak to you and your team, so I went over to your apartment. Your team told me what they observed. Then we walked over here, encountering Master Tiyana Yon on the way. By the way, she is very impressed with you.”
What?
“Why did you refer to Tiyana as ‘Master’?”
Arrjee responded, “Oh, you don’t know. Dad, Asiel and Orian were impressed by her. They held a meeting a few days ago at the admin building with her, Dad, and Masters Trillet, Thorm, and Birch. Dad says she has a very useful combination of managerial experience and an interest in the development of our youth. She was offered the job of co-administrator of the academy, a position she accepted after some thought. Hence, ‘Master’. Dad is happy to no longer have the co-administrator responsibility.”
Wow, I spent over an hour with her. I never thought to ask about her job title of ‘Administrator’. I wondered why she was there, but chose not to ask about it.
You were preoccupied by your focus on Norrus.
“The Skolturi told me a couple of Tuesdays ago that they had invited applicants here for interviews. Did they cancel those?”
Master replied, “No, we still will be holding them. The prospective job title and responsibilities have changed somewhat, and they have been notified of that. Now we are looking to hire a Dean who has decent teaching skills and knowledge our students might be interested in.”
From there, the conversation shifted to me giving my perspective of what had happened in the ravine. He had heard it from my teammates, so I just had to fill in some details they hadn’t seen or didn’t say. As that part of the conversation, died down, Sun asked:
“Room buffalo?” || Is no one going to speak of the buffalo in the room?
“Interface you learn?” || What did you learn from your discussion with Interface?
“Oh. It all related to my level and the skills which ranked. I’m not just Level 7, but braked there. I have sufficient XP for 8 and 9, and I’m working toward 10. But 65.7% of the XP I earn right now is lost.”
Onre informed me, “If you are teamed and we defeat foes, that XP you do not earn will be shared among the rest of us.”
Onre is correct.
“I am happy to hear that. I’m not mad about losing out on XP, not with me already being past Level 9 in a sense. It does bother me a little, though, so if others can benefit from some of that lost XP, great! The second topic Interface discussed concerns the six skills I ranked while in the vortex.”
“SIX!?” asked a very surprised Kossa.
“Yes. Meditation ranked from D to C, my three regens all ranked from C to B, you guys already knew my Boost Armor ranked from D to B, and Dodge ranked from D to C.”
Achievement: Dark Sight, C
“And, just now, Dark Sight also ranked from D to C, but that had nothing to do with the vortex.”
She said with good-natured envy, “I hate you.”
“Yeah, but I suck at cards.” She and several others smiled.
Lenyet shared his thought, “With your Meditation at C, the passive boosts to your regens increased from 5% to 10%. That’s on top of the boost they got by ranking. Even though your fighting skills are still low, you have joined the lower tiers of warriors. Can you share your regen values?”
I will answer this.
Interface invited us all into a party. He allowed everyone time to join.
I: I am able to answer Lenyet with specifics.
HPR: at Rank C with a 5% boost, 55 HP/hour. At B with a 10% boost, 146 HP/hour.
KiR: at Rank C with a 5% boost, 324 Ki/hour. At B with a 10% boost, 612 Ki/hour.
SPR: at Rank C with a 5% boost, 856 SP/hour. At B with a 10% boost, 1795 SP/hour.
I: Of course, active Meditate will increase all values significantly. And Forrest’s Rank D HPR Boost would modify his HPR by over 5.5 times while active.
Wow. Those are some really decent values. Almost 3 HP/minute all the time, and about 16 HP/minute while HPR is active.
“My self-protections improved noticeably as well. Boost Armor already provided resistances to physical, toxic, and acidic and basic attacks. C added hot and cold, and B added energy and void attacks. At Level 7, the base resistance value for all of those is 7%, and my jewelry adds another 7.5% to physical. Wherever I am armored, there is an additional 3.5% resistance to all of those.”
“I’m less clear on exactly what Dodge does, other than it helps me move away from attacks or toward a target.”
Lenyet was skeptical. “You were lucky with that ‘toward’ thing. It worked for the Zebor and Norrus, but I would not depend on it.”
“Master, you may wish to reread the description for Dodge. Interface showed everyone, even details normally not included in descriptions..
I: Dodge is the ability to quickly avoid a blow of any sort, except area of effect. Your battle awareness grows by level, and eventually you will be able to avoid even unseen blows. You may also dodge toward a target, in which case Dodge offers no defensive capability. Level, rank, perception, agility, and training all contribute to Dodge effectiveness. Level 7, Rank C values:
Ki used: 11 (12 at B, 15 at A, 20 at S)
SP used: 9.3 (9 - (1- level)/20)
Duration: 6 sec (4.5 + 0.5 sec/rank)
Recharge: 2 sec (3 .5 - 0.5 sec/rank)
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
At Rank D and 20 perception, avoidance of unseen blows begins.
3 rp per actual dodge (not per activation, although Ki and SP spent)
2 rp per additional dodge during same activation
1 rp per dodge toward a target (once per activation)
“It is good to see the extended description, but I knew most of that.”
“Master, read it once more.”
… “That’s – that’s new. ‘Dodge toward a target’?”
“Yes. I believe I am responsible for that.”
I: He is.
“But how?”
“I think I broke it, at least how it was documented. With me spending two months of body time in the vortex, and with it messing with my brain, I ended up restarting Dodge about once every five minutes of body time. Over 75 days, that was 15,000 activations. In real time, that all occurred in probably 5 seconds. Somehow, with the fact that it ended up working and allowing me to get Norrus out of there, the description changed a couple real hours later. Interface could only give me one third normal RP credit though, since only one of all those activations actually brought me in contact with him. But I got some credit for all the rest, each one being a necessary step.”
Nicely explained, with no mention of System or Referee.
“Thank you.”
“The 5000 RP I earned allowed Dodge to rank. But what I don’t know, what I have never really understood, is how do I judge how ‘dodgy’ it is? I know Rank C will be better than D, but how exactly?”
“I understand your ignorance; I was, too, for the longest time. I think the reason its description doesn’t say is that there are a lot of variables involved. It simply expects us to understand, ‘more is better’. The description specifically names level, rank, perception, agility, and training. I’m sure luck is another factor, but this is likely one of those cases where talent generally overrides luck. I have a picture in my mind, comparing my Dodge rank and talent with an opponent’s rank and talent in the attack they use. And are they attacking me from the front, side, or rear? How quick and agile are they compared to me?”
“For you at Rank C, I would say you generally have an 85% chance of avoiding an attack by an equally skilled opponent coming at you or casting something head on. Your perception is at least 20, right?”
“It is thresholded, currently at 26. All my attributes are thresholded except charisma and luck.”
Lenyet started laughing, a full laugh that lasted about ten seconds. When he calmed, he told us, “If I were Kossa’s age I’d hate you, too. You’re only Level 7, with eight out of ten attributes thresholded. Ridiculous, but congratulations. Due to perception being above its first threshold, it gets a 10% bonus in any skill that depends on it. So Dodge treats your 26 perception as if it were 28 and a half. So does Dark Sight, etc. You have significant capacity to avoid attacks coming from your rear.”
Arrjee commented, “That sounds pretty vague.”
“It is vague, and not quantifiable. Is the foe making any sound? Does he have a discernible odor? Does he reek of murderous intent? Are other people you do see looking at something behind you? Are you familiar with his attack patterns? What about the mirror on the wall ten yards ahead of you? These are the kinds of things which allow Dodge to successfully respond to foes at your rear or sides. For a completely unsensed foe or ranged attack, there is where I believe our luck plays a significant factor.”
I need to be more serious about my luck attribute.
Lenyet’s speculations are worth considering.
“Thank you Master. I believe I have a better idea of how Dodge functions now. To restate in my own words, my relatively untrained Rank C Dodge, will not work very well against your well trained Rank A martial skills. But if they were also Rank C, I could easily avoid most attacks.”
“It will still prove very useful against my attacks. I would say you have a 60% chance or more of avoiding a frontal attack, probably 35% against an attack you don’t see. But you are correct. As we train your Dodge further, those chances will rise, even before your Dodge ranks to B. Your thresholded agility will also contribute significantly to how gracefully and frequently you can avoid getting hit. As you level and gain hands-on experience, your general battle awareness grows, further improving Dodge.”
----------------------------------------
“Forrest,” Onre asked, “would you like to spar against my knife and me? My Basic Knifemanship is at Rank C. My Stealth should help me some in this cavern even with your Dark Sight. ”
“Okay. My Basic Martial Arts is only at D. Why did you mention your Stealth if I’ll still be able to see you?”
“It offers minor defense even when a foe sees me. I’m sure it is not anywhere near as much as your Dodge. But anything that helps me not get hit is good. Another advantage is that I can have it up for an extended period, not just six of every eight seconds. My Stealth is Rank D.”
Your perception of him will be close to halved. Dodge wouldn’t protect you from his unseen attacks, with your perception being about 16 against him.
“That’s a nice skill! It sort of gives him the ‘backstabbing’ capability of rogues in RPGs.”
Yes, or ‘attack from shadows’.
“Yes, let’s spar!” He stood quickly, but as I started to stand, my body reminded me that my muscles and skeleton are not matching well at the moment. As I continued to rise, I told him, “I’m not going to be very quick. Two months of simultaneous growth and starvation does that to a person. But I’m up for testing out Dodge and Boost Armor.”
We stood and moved to the center of the cavern. He pulled his knife from the sheath at his belt. I adopted the Respectful Badger stance, common in honorable sparring. He adopted what looked like the Angry Ostrich stance, indicating an aggressive intent.
He just realized what I had said. “The only way for you to test the resistance of Boost Armor will be for me to cut or seriously punch you.”
With a slight smile, I told him I knew. “That’s what HPR Boost is for. Please strike a few times from behind as well. With your stealth, I don’t think Dodge will help me if I can’t sense you, especially with those silent boots of yours. But I need to gauge how this works. After a few minutes with you, maybe Sun wants to test his class skills. I have like zero chance of hitting him, but my Dodge should prove pretty successful.”
Onre thought for a moment, then said, “Dodge, Boost Armor, and HPR Boost – defense, resistance, and accelerated healing. I see why Lenyet could call you a warrior.”
I responded, “Low tier warrior, and one who hurts when he moves. But this could be fun anyway. As you know HPR Boost uses 1 ki/sec, so it's not something I can have on full time.”
I: A usually unstated aspect of HPR Boost is its actual ki cost. Technically it is (1 + (level - 4)/60). At Level 7 it costs 1.05 ki/sec.
That was news to me. “With our max Ki and Ki Regen growing, that still sounds pretty cheap for decently leveled healers.” Onre agreed.
As soon as he moves, I’ll activate Dodge. I’ll keep it up as much as I can.
He told me he was starting. He rushed the two yards that had been between us, giving me plenty of time to use it to avoid him.
Weird – Dodge motion doesn’t seem to stress my muscles.
Much of the utility derives from its aetherial source. Your muscles are involved, but they are essentially directed by your ki with little strain.
He kept doing frontal attacks for over 2 minutes. Then he managed a serious hit, stabbing my right chest. It hurt, but I was getting used to pain. “You said you wanted me to hit you. It would have been easy any time with your degraded capability, and especially with the way your body language informs when Dodge is active. A foe would use that to his advantage, but I have been using it to specifically attack during Dodge, to help you test it. Still, you really need to rank up your Deception.”
With my stats showing 17 more damage on top of my 11 starved HP, I activated HPR Boost.
In just over a minute the healable damage will be gone, unless he strikes me again.
He sheathed his knife. “I’m going to start attacking from your sides and rear now. I’ll only do it while Dodge is active. Let me know when you want me to stop punching you.”
My HPR Boost couldn’t keep up. I was losing five to ten HP every punch. When I was down 80 more HP I called a halt. He told me that I had avoided a few punches from my sides, but I exhibited no defense from the back. With my ridiculously good Ki Regen, I was only down about 150 ki. It would take me 5 minutes to completely heal, which would be another 250 ki plus the ongoing drain from Boost Armor and Dark Sight. I should have enough.
“Thank you very much, Onre. Next time I’ll try to hit back, but you helped me understand my self-protective powers. Sun, I’ll need six or seven minutes to heal up and then recharge some ki.”
“You I understand.” || I understand.
“Dodge I wonder.” || I wonder how well Dodge will work from your rear without any stealth.
Fists I use. || I’ll use my fists since I didn’t bring a club.
“I hope it does a lot better against your rear attacks than it did with Onre!” || I’m okay with being hit, but I’m glad it is not even a practice club tonight.
Arrjee added || You’d love it!
While I was healing up, Sun borrowed a shield from one of the guardsmen.
“Retaliate, Block, Taunt I train.” || I will be training Retaliate, Block, and Taunt.”
“Not useful Parry Sense active.” || My Parry Sense is passively active, but of limited use without wielding a weapon.
“Block shield help.” || This shield will help me use Block, though.
“I understand and will try to attack you several times so you can use those skills.” || It’s great that in actual battle you can avoid being hit with both a weapon and a shield.
Arrjee said, “I have an idea, Sun. Forrest is going to suck right now at offense. Would you like me and Kossa to be attacking you at the same time as him? Since you don’t have a weapon, we will not either.” || It’s okay if you just want to focus on Forrest.
“Two shields I got.” || I should have gotten two shields. That is okay, though.
“Against three I defend. Forrest I attack.” || I will defend against the three of you. I will only be attacking Forrest directly.
“Retaliate everyone careful.” || Everyone be careful of my Retaliate skill.
Kossa replied, “We can handle being smacked by a Retaliate. It will just be an arm or fist, anyway.”
“You shield bash” || I might bash you with my shield also.
“Strength not arm I control.” || Retaliate lets me control my strength, but it will choose the best arm.
Master Lenyet asked me, “Forrest, consider if you want to continue with this. You could end up pulling or spraining one of those already-stretched muscles, and they are already in a not-healing state..”
“I’ll be fine, Master. Even if I do complicate my slightly grown and starved condition, I will completely recover during my sixdays. Actually, I’m glad these guys are giving me a chance to move around. I am having fun.”
“As you will. Be careful.”
I was ready. Looking over at my friends, “Let’s do it.” I walked a few feet toward the center of the cavern and my ‘allies’ and ‘foe’ followed me. Turning around, I adopted the Steady Horse stance for a primarily defensive approach. I have sparred a few times with Sun. I knew to expect the unexpected.
He began with a taunt. It felt a lot weaker than the one Asha Yon had used on me weeks before. Sure, I could feel my focus was almost forced upon Sun, but I didn’t want to obliterate them.
Consider two factors. Asha’s Taunt was likely Rank B or A, while Sun’s is probably at D. Secondly, your Meditate was only granting you 10% mental resistance before; with it at C, you have 20%.
“That makes sense.”
Arrjee and Kossa had begun their attack on Sun once they saw us ready. Sun kept their main face focused on me, using his side eyes to keep track of the other attackers. Their shield was a wonder in action, deflecting most blows from either of the unleveled attackers. It was time I did my job and moved in. Since they didn’t have a weapon, I would stick with Ki Punches; I had no desire to draw blood with Claw Strike. They managed to fend off my first two punches, but the third got through. One of his arms immediately punched me back, I suspect as a result of their Retaliate skill. My Dodge skill didn’t allow me to deflect it that time. Their aetherial auto-attack was pretty effective against my aetherial auto-defense.
Not all of their retaliates got through, however. But with my degraded performance, I was not hitting them often enough for Retaliate to be much of a factor. His direct attacks were hitting me more often. Unlike Onre, Sun was not ensuring he only attacked while Dodge was active. With two other people trying to beat on them, they needed to strike me when they could, not timed to best test my skill. Their three arms were proving very effective against three opponents. They didn’t just dedicate a single arm to each of us; Sun was responding tactically, using however many arms made sense against in the given situation.
Arrjee had the most trained martial experience of us all, but without a sword his attacks were more of an annoyance than anything. Kossa was probably his equal bare-handed. Sun had the most broad training, including his favorite, mace, some polearm, and brawling. With us, they were limited to brawling and shield bashes. Only Arrjee and Kossa got bashed. I had allowed Sun to get behind me multiple times, with Dodge allowing me to avoid about a third of their rear blows.
This went on for about fifteen minutes, with no one receiving significant injuries. I called us to a stop once I had a good feel for how effective my Rank C Dodge was. It was great!
“Pouch here.” || Here is your pouch back.
“You stole the pouch from my belt?!” || surprise
“Much three arms accomplish.” || Three arms can accomplish a lot in battle. friendly smugness
Arrjee exclaimed, “Crap, mine too!!” || sneaky three-armed ferret