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CYRUS
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“First, we start with Alchemy.” The Painter procured an alembic from behind the bar. “I’ve already made this reduction—it’s poisonous, by the way. But to learn how to grow the ingredients, extract the needed parts, and combine them to get the desired result, that is generally considered Alchemy. Second is Alteration…”
The Painter froze the acid, then sublimed it into a thick mist, and finally condensed it back into a liquid. He levitated the liquid out of the alembic.
“Another is Transmutation.” His eyes flashed, and the compound transformed into a canvas. “Yet another is Enchanting.”
He picked up a filled Ryoku Crystal and, tattoos now glowing, Enchanted the canvas.
“Amazing,” Cy said. "I thought you needed a written Script to Enchant, and then invoke the actual Script to Enchant it."
“On top of that, the canvas wasn’t even Forged,” Envy said.
“Ah, yes. The Enchanter would have to do that, Cy, yes. And Envy, a Forger would have similar requirements. Even a Master…”
Envy frowned and withdrew into herself. Touched a sore spot. I guess he looked into her.
“Next is Conjuration.” Jules perked up. The Alter picked up his paintbrush and painted a demon on the canvas. It leapt out of the canvas itself and howled with bloodthirst. Everyone but The Painter flinched.
“Now Illusion.” Doppelgangers of the demon filled the room to its corners. They all fought each other.
“Destruction.” All the images ignited and died instantly, but the original fell to the floor and struggled.
“Restoration.” The flames receded and the burns on the demon’s flesh bubbled away until they were fully healed.
“But that’s enough.” He banished the demon, and it returned to the canvas as a painting. The canvas shifted back into the poisonous liquid and flowed back into the alembic. “So, who got the lesson?”
Not even Cy had a response. Too much in awe to even think about a lesson right now.
“Ha! Just remember what I showed you. You’ll learn its purpose one day through practice and reflection. Maybe even meditation, eh?” The Painter and Jules stared at each other for a bit too long. What’s that about?
“It took me decades, so don’t feel like you need to get it right away. Anyway, the theoretical mojo can wait. What you three need now is practical application. And what you need most is, to be frank, just some fucking Runes. I mean, really, did your parents not teach you anything?”
All three looked silently at the wooden floor.
“Ahh… I see. Well, despite those circumstances, you all still killed a Lesser Kraken today.”
“Any chance our first Rune will be Fire?” Cy asked.
“Why would you want to learn Fire?” The Painter pointed at Jules. “He’s got you covered there.” Jealous, Cy rolled his eyes. “We focus on combat first. Now I have a golden rule about combat—Cy, since you are dying to interrupt me yet again, go ahead.”
“Let me guess, always use combat as a last resort?”
“Errgh! No. I think you should use it as your first move.” Ah, stupid. “You want to hold your cards close, so don’t give away your stealthy tricks to start with. When it comes to combat—”
“Doesn’t that contradict what you told us last night, though? About using knowledge against those prone to action?” The Painter’s eye twitched.
“Life is full of contradictions. You should, of course, learn as much about your opponent as possible, and act only when you must. And when you must, combat is often the best opener, in my experience. Any questions?”
“No. You were sneaky with us because you didn’t want to fight us.”
“Ha! That’s one way to say it, though it makes me sound like a coward.”
“I wonder if an Alter can take on two Sins,” Jules said.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“I’m sure one day we will find out,” he replied. “When it comes to combat, there are four main pillars of Skills: offense, defense, armor, and weapons. These can be broken down into further categories, like extremely close quarters, close quarters, ranged, specialty, war. Only then do you break down further into actual Skills. Keep in mind, you can only have so many Skills active at once. And with the geometric returns of Ryoku when Leveling Up, it makes more sense to min-max your Levels, to an extent. So how do you choose which ones?”
“Well,” Cy said, “I’ve always thought about majoring in two magic Skills and one combat Skill.”
“I’m the opposite, but I agree,” Jules said.
“Never thought about it,” Envy said.
“No, but I’ve instructed you plenty of times.” Whiskers, I don’t know how Kat’s put up with you this long.
“Eh, at least you have an idea about how to game the System, then. But that’s not what I’m looking for, so hear this. I believe that you don’t pick the Skill, but rather the Skill chooses you.”
“How does that happen? I haven’t had anything choose me yet,” Cy said.
“And how many have you trained?”
“Uh, well, none. I was too busy learning Runes.”
“Ha! And you want to be an Alter. The secret, and it’s best done when young, like the three of you, is to try everything and see what sticks. What can’t you get enough of? What can’t stop calling your name? That is the Skill you choose.”
Jules and Cy nodded their heads. Envy rolled her eyes.
“Most people,” The Painter continued, “are so worried about choosing their Class, they never think about the Skills. And they aren’t even proactively choosing their Class, they're choosing what society told them. Their parents, their culture, their standard of living, to their ease of life. But if you figure out which Skills have chosen you, then your Class no longer matters. Only your Rank and Levels do. And in that wisdom is power, is flexibility, is the power of min-maxing. So, who can guess what’s next?”
“You’ll have me try Sewing, just so I can scratch it off my short list,” Envy said.
“Is Sewing a combat Skill? If so, then yes.”
“So you really expect us to try them all out?” Jules asked.
“No. I don’t expect you to try them out. I expect you to raise every combat Skill to Level 10.”
Three faces dropped. They screamed in both outrage and unison.
“Level 10!?”
“That takes years to do with just one Skill!”
“Ugh. I hate Archery."
“That’ll take our entire decade together,” Cy protested. “And that’s before we even move on to magic Skills. I need to hit Level 100 in just one Skill to become an Alter.”
The entire time, The Painter laughed maniacally.
“Let me ask you the big question you are all missing here. How do you Level Up?”
“From XP gained by performing relevant tasks,” Cy said.
“Repetition,” Jules asked.
“By trying harder things,” Envy said.
“Errgh! You’re all wrong, though Envy is the closest.” Doesn’t look like she enjoyed the compliment. “You Level Up by iterating. You repetitively experiment with one method of a task until you test a new one, whether better or worse. A Merchant may Level Up ten times in a year, spread through different Skills, because he does mostly the same tasks each day, but new problems come his way randomly, and he reluctantly tends to them. However, for those who seek out new ways to accomplish a task, consistently and iteratively… They can Level Up much faster.”
“This is insane. What does this even have to do with the Inked Arts you and Isolda droned on about?”
“Wrath—Jules. You are weak. Weaker than that demon I just summoned on a whim. You don’t have the right to learn the Inked Arts yet. But this is your path to it. Besides, the amount of XP needed to hit Level 10 is negligible. With a regimented schedule of live combat, and constant training days… It can be achieved in days for each Skill.”
Cy felt ashamed, truly ashamed. All talk and no action. I've only got two Skills above Level 10, and I want to be an Alter… Now he wants us to learn dozens?
“Using the same method I taught myself, you five—yes, I’m talking to you two furries as well—will become moderately adept at every type of combat in just three months.”
“How does that math add up?" Jules asked. Good question.
The Painter gawked at them. He grew impatient.
“Really? No one’s going to even attempt to reach for an answer? This generation, I swear… You will Level Up different weapon, offense, defense, and armor Skills at the same time, so you can cut the time in fourths. Plus, war Skills are impractical for you all, so we’ll skip them.”
What in the actual fuck did I get us into?
Envy stood up. “We done for the day? I’m hungry, and I have a Master Forger waiting on me.”
“Hmm… We can cut it short today, but not yet. First of all, say your goodbyes to him tonight. You five move in with me tomorrow.” Envy dropped her bag. “You don’t stop training until you’re done with your combat Skills. Then I'll give you a day off, and we repeat the process with magic Skills and then the trades. To each their own, but we will only focus on the crafting trade Skills, because if we did them all, well, even you two would die from boredom. And speaking of which…”
The Painter emptied a bag of purple crystals onto the bar. Each was almost black, they were so full of Ryoku. Just like Davy Jones'…
“This might seem like a marathon to you. I assure you it is not. You will sprint, you will haul ass, and you will rest when your task is complete. Cy, these Ryoku Crystals are mostly for you, so you don’t die. Wrath, Envy—there is a price for strength. You two will die hundreds of deaths in this room. I won’t force you to. I’m just being honest. The goal is to finish this segment of training as quickly as possible and move on. You will run ragged on Ryoku. I will constantly pump you with it so you don’t have to sleep, either. What, did I forget to mention that part earlier?”
Cy swallowed a hard lump in his throat. Am I willing to pay this price? To be exhausted, constantly, just to stay at Level 10?
He looked at Jules, then to Envy, and then the puffed-up furballs.
Of course I’m willing. He’ll keep me alive so I can move forward to achieve my dream, and I need to reach their level. Jules and Envy must have also thought it all over, judging from their silence.
“Say your goodbyes to whoever you need to tonight. Once you step foot inside again, I’ll only give you leave each time you complete a Skill set.”
“And then what’s next?” Cy asked. He raised his head up level with The Painter’s, who smiled brightly.
“The real training begins.”
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