(Arc 2 Complete!) Path of the Last Champion [Sci-Fantasy LitRPG, Party Dynamics, Earned Power]

To witness the emotion on her face was almost as startling as the emotion instructor Bas was displaying through her usually, carefully composed and bland expression.

Uh… Mul thought, eyeing the complex, bone-like structure that made up her forehead. I guess it's not all hard.

Instructor Bas held a silently panting, tail wagging bundle of white fur in her hands, at eye level, and looked, for lack of a better word, utterly lost.

"So?" Mul asked, the one syllable coming out as gruffly as intended, too quick and short for the suppressor to capture.

For her part, Instructor Bas sighed, another first for her, and gently lowered Mul's bonded companion to the floor again, where it gave her an affectionate rub with its body before scampering back to Mul and nestling in between his crossed legs. Instructor Bas kept her eyes on the little wolf cub, and Mul bit down his irritation, feeling it evaporate as it waited for the woman to speak on her own time and terms, as she always did.

With a sigh, he stretched his back.

They were sitting in one of the many training rooms spread out across the Scimitar's faculty decks, the same one that instructor Bas always booked for their solo lessons, and Mul reached a finger to Wolfie to give him a scratch behind the ear, eliciting a little happy stretch from the already falling asleep beast.

"I will be honest with you," she finally spoke. "No one aboard has a clue as to what to do about this."

Mul raised his eyebrows at her. "Not even the guy in the creepy, dark room?"

"Not even K," she said, shaking her head. "None of the masters either. We've asked HQ for help with this, of course, but we haven't gotten much yet. We have bonded paths in the guild, of course, but not a lot, as aura beasts only start popping up nearer to the Deep Zones, and by then, 95% of auramancers will have a very solid idea of their path. But it does happen on occasion, it's not that rare… But not with berserkers, and most certainly not with bonds with opposing affinities… At least not on easy to reach memory. I'm sure they will comb the deep archives for anything useful, but that is likely to take some time. And if that fails, a decision will be made on whether it's worth it for the guild to acquire that knowledge. There are plenty of bond heavy guilds, but nobody in the Nexus parts with knowledge easily… Or cheaply. So this is quite the unknown situation we're standing in."

She shook her head and sighed again, massaging her bony features.

"So this clusterfuck has been dumped on my hands to sort and deal with for now," she said.

"Thanks in advance," Mul said, sarcastically.

She waved off his tone, unbothered.

"I will do my job, never you worry," she said, composing her features. "Right, let's start with what I do know."

She motioned to the sleeping cub, his belly now facing upwards, as it sprawled over Mul's lap.

"First things first, as bonded beasts go, you could have done a lot worse than a wolf species," she said. "They are loyal, fierce, strong and great combatants. You can also ride them, once they're big enough, and they provide a lot of utility besides. You can basically count on Wolfie to become another party member, one who is, usually, under your control… It can scout for you. Hunt for you. Even fight for you… The list of benefits gained from having a bonded class in the party is long."

"And the cons?" Mul asked, semi-gruffly.

She shrugged. "Just think of him as another party member. He needs food, water, healing… He has needs that need to be met, and as he grows, he might not fit everywhere or be able to go everywhere you go. Of course, no matter how big he gets, he will always have a home within you."

"Inside my core, you mean?"

She slowly balanced her head from side to side.

"Eh… Yes and no, I guess. It's complicated, and I don't really understand it, but I've got some basic stuff to get us both started. I'll send them to your tablet once we're done, and teach you how to open and interact with the files, so that you can take notes and highlight stuff and so on… Eh. This will make sense. You'll see."

Mul gave her a short, but sincere nod. "Thank you."

And he didn't just mean it in regards to the files she was giving him. He meant it more in regards to what she had said. Not you, but us.

"I take my duty seriously, Mul. Never doubt that."

"I don't, instructor."

"Hmmm, "she said, her eyes falling down to the sleeping cub. "As for Wolfie being originally an aethermancer beast, have no fear. While aethermancers cannot bond with an aura beast, auramancers can bond with aether beasts with a certain chance of success. 70%, I'm told…"

"And if you fail?" Mul asked frowning.

"Death for both," Bas said. "Hence why it's almost never attempted."

"Right…"

"Again, I don't know how or why, but when it works, aura erases the aether and rebirths the bonded companion as an aura beast instead. In your case, it worked fine, so there will not be any lingering issues from that."

"The affinities then?" Mul asked. "Are they the problem?"

"Yes. Ice and fire, extreme heat and cold, they react nearly as violently as aura and aether do," she said, her eyes still on the gentle rise and fall of Wolfie's tummy. "Affinities and elements… Hmm. Not exactly sure this is the right way to put it, but think of it this way. Fire can be just as easily used for tanking as it for DPS, and it can be used in leadership skills, and even to buff and debuff. It can even be cleansing and purifying, taking on a healing role, but in its essence, its reality is always the same. Fire burns. It devours. It consumes. It destroys… Hot or less hot, it always warms and burns."

She crossed her arms.

"On the other hand, on the almost exact opposite end, in fact, is ice. And just the same way as fire, it can easily be used across roles and classes to different effects and varying ends… But in essence, ice is always cold, always freezing," she said. "Ice holds and entraps. It slows. It pierces. It shatters. It creeps, but it also snaps. And it can also perverse, in a fashion… More or less cold, it always envelops and pierces, though funnily enough, they both burn by means of extreme temperatures."

Instructor Bas lifted her all brown eyes to him, a slight grimace on her lips.

"To have both of these raging and clashing within your channels… Or even if you were to try and master both, and use them interchangeably…" she shook her head. "You would come undone, Mul. Your pathways would fracture and rupture, spilling burning raging and ice shattering aura into your body, and killing you. Of that much at least, K is certain, and the Master of Aura is in agreement."

Mul stared down at Wolfie with a blank expression.

"So that means one or the other," he said, more to himself than to Bas.

"Yes."

"And what will happen to him," he asked, gently nuzzling the little guy with his index.

The wolf cub contorted impossibly in his lap and then settled down in a new position, still fast asleep.

"Depends on your choice, but the bottom line is that he'll just adapt," she said. "Beast species are, quite often, exactly the same at the bottom line, their differences being the result of their affinities and elements made manifest. If you stick with fire, Wolfie's core will heat up to reflect yours, and he will become an ember wolf. Or a molten wolf. Or any other such variety of fire wolf. The process will be painless and, as far as I understand it, near instantaneous. Of course, his path will also be a rage one… Which is something better left to discuss in the months to come."

Mul nodded to himself, wondering idly what the little guy would think of having its affinity change. Somehow, perhaps through that strange bond of theirs, which allowed him to understand the ice wolf cub as though it were a sapient, he had a feeling that the little guy wouldn't really care about it. As long as they stayed together, and that Mul cared for and loved him, Wolfie would be happy, and the thought brought a stinging sensation to his eyes, and he blinked to push it away.

"And… And what if I pick ice instead?" he asked the instructor.

She took a deep breath.

"The reverse, then… Your core will grow cold, your skills will be replaced, and your path will be completely changed," she said, slowly, as if unsure. "K, and some of the masters are certain that your rage affinity will remain, except it will be manifested through ice instead of fire. Most of the masters are abstaining from making any predictions, though the Master of Emotions is quite certain that your rage affinity itself will not change, so take that as you will."

"And you?" Mul asked, searching the brown eyes that always gave him so little.

She snorted, surprising him yet again. "I'm a berserker, and so will you be. Unless you are willing to forgive and forget, to change your ways, personality and bearing, and to change the very lenses through which you consider Creation Itself… Then I think I can say with some certainty that with ice or fire, your rage will remain."

It was Mul's turn to snort.

"Fair enough, I guess," he said, rubbing Wolfie's belly. "But does ice work with a berserker path? From what you told me… Fire is all destructive and in your face, and ice seems… Different."

"Hot rage, or cold rage," she said. "At the end of the day, it matters not. Would it be different? Yes, and it would be up to you to discover how, and how it would work for you. But ice can be just as devastating and explosive as fire. It all just depends on how you use it. On how you want to use it."

She raised a cautioning hand to him.

"Before you start thinking about it, or continue to, know that this choice is not to be made lightly, Mul. You will be able to choose once, and only once," she warned him, her eyes deep and heavy upon his. "Whatever you choose, you will be stuck with till the day you die. And the affinity of one's soul is not something to be taken as lightly as what to eat for breakfast. The nature of your soul itself will change, meaning that beyond just your skills and your path, your very being could very well change as well, Mul. And in ways you can't yet even fathom… So don't expect an easy choice. Though I'm told that when the time does come, it tends to be surprisingly simple."

The brawler hesitated for a moment, mouth slightly ajar, the questions ready to burst forth… Then he closed it, and gave her a nod instead.

"I'll be careful," he said instead. "But what happens now?"

Her bone work brow raised lightly, and she tapped a finger against the inside of her thigh.

"That is probably the most surprising part. Until you make your decision, whichever that may be, nothing much will change. Wolfie is too small for any training and fighting, so you will remain as you are for now, and your main goal is still to learn to control your rage. Fiery or icy, it doesn't matter."

A familiar silver cylinder manifested in her hand, and a screen formed from it.

"With most of that taken care of, let's consider your immediate future," she said, scanning through words only she could see. "I will remain your instructor, as was planned. Becoming a bonded class will need us to make some changes when the time comes, but for now, we are proceeding as is. And since there's nobody else with actual knowledge aboard to make a difference…"

She shrugged. "Well, you're stuck with me."

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Mul breathed through his nose, a smirk touching his lips. "That's… Fine."

"Good," she said, the smile more on her tone than features. "In that case, let's get the annoying part out of the way first. You are not getting any weapons."

He gaped at her. "What…"

"And you will give me your knuckle dusters for safekeeping," she continued. "Your path is to be one of bare fisted combat, just as my own is. I will return your knuckle dusters to you when I am certain you won't be tempted to use them anymore."

"But… How-How am I going to fight?"

She raised a fist, pointing it at his face, and snapping dark blue lightning covered it. It was reminiscent of the dark lightning the Raid Boss had exuded at the end of the Ceremony, but hers was not as dark, and its color was a lot more vibrant and deeper.

Wolfie woke up with a startle, and Mul instinctively covered him with his hands to calm him.

"Aura will be your weapon, and your fists, even your feet, will also be your weapons," she said, the lightning painting deep shadows and bright flashes of dark cerulean across her features and the training room. "Your path will be like mine, and I will teach you to fight like I do."

She curled her lips. "Some people like to stick to specific martial arts and ways with a devotion that borders on the insane, and while there are benefits to such approaches, what I'll teach is much simpler. Kill and survive. That's it. Fists mainly, with a bit of palm and some kicks thrown into the mix... Plus a good chunk of grappling, both standing and on the floor for good measure, and self-defense of course, for when you can't dodge or avoid a hit, and a lot of footwork to complete it."

She shook her head, her lightning fading into nothing.

"And if you pulled something just by punching a barrier, we have a lot of work to do in building up your flexibility and mobility as well. I'm not worried about your [Strength*]. You have plenty of it, and will only continue to accumulate it naturally, but we need to do some work on your [Agility]. And [Reflex] as well," she added. "You'll likely never be an agile fighter, using your body to block and counter rather than evade and dodge around damage instead, and [Toughness] and [Constitution] will come in heavily for that. And for the fact that as a berserker, your path and skills themselves will damage you at all times, fire or ice. So far so good?"

Mul simply continued to stare at her.

"What?" she asked.

"What do you mean what? You want me to punch beasts? And monsters? With my bare hands?" he asked, shocked.

"Yes?"

"Some of these things are made of stone! Of-of metal! How… Don't show me your aura again!" he cried out in exasperation as she lifted her fist again with a blank expression.

But she did, and the lightning snapped and snarled even angrier than before, its energy burning his face and blinding him. There was a booming shockwave that rattled his bones, and he was pushed backwards, holding onto Wolfie with everything he got as he tumbled and came to slam against the wall.

Then, all went deadly quiet, tinnitus ringing in his ears.

When he opened his eyes, Instructor Bes, still sitting cross legged on the floor, easily held a metal plate that was at least eight, freaking inches thick and as tall as her torso. A gaping hole, shaped like a fist, punctured the thick metal, thorn bits of it bending out the back.

"Any more than this, and I would've damaged you, Wolfie and the room," she said, her tone serious, and bordering on the angry. "But if I wanted to, I could have punched through the entire ship, shattering it in half. Though from the outside, the shields would have stopped me…"

Mul swallowed, and Wolfie peaked through his fingers to stare at instructor Bas with a cautious, but curious expression in his deep blue eyes.

"So one, you will stop complaining about it like a little bitch, and you will fight barehanded. You stayed aboard this ship, and now you will learn and fight as I tell you, understanding that it's for a reason, based on logic and data, and not something I'm just pulling out of my ass," she said, her suppressor triggering mid-sentence. "And two, you don't tell me what to do, apprentice. And you will never do so again. Is that clear?"

Mul clenched his jaw, his eyes leaving the wrecked solid metal slab to consider her eyes, now shimmering with dark blue.

"Yes, instructor," he said, his voice raspy in the silence. "I apologize."

She flung the metal slab at him, and he covered Wolfie as it landed with a heavy thud at his feet, somehow not damaging the floor despite him feeling the shock of its impact.

"I broke it, and you will be able to break it too," she said, her tone still flat. "Just like you cycle your aura into your knuckle dusters, you can cycle them for the same destructive purposes with your bare hands. It's a bit different from the cycling you've been doing up to now, and you will learn how to do it, but depending how well you do, and how much you piss me off, we'll see how painful and damaging the process will be for you. Now stop cowering over there and get back here. And bring that punching sheet with you."

Punching sheet? Mul thought, trying to keep the shock from his face. This thing is meant to be punched?

He lowered Wolfie at his side and slowly, and awkwardly, stood up. When he bent to lift up the metal slab he couldn't help but drop his jaw at just how much [Strength] it took him to do so, and he just about managed to do it, his teeth rattling as he dragged it, his back bent, towards the instructor.

"It's aurium," Instructor Bas told him, as she took it easily from him and stored it back. "And I'll be very impressed if you manage to even scratch it within the month."

She glanced at her awkward apprentice, even as he sat back exactly where he had been before.

"You are a baby," she said, her eyes harsh. "I could kill you with a flick of my pinky, without even standing up. And next time someone takes Wolfie, their intentions might not be as kind as to simply try to teach you some manners. So, if you want to question, and speak out of turn and respect, and be your loud and rude self anywhere and anytime you damn well please, at least have the decency to be able to back it up. With the fist in the best case, or with the wisdom to temper your ignorance instead. Is that understood?"

Mul nodded stiffly. "Yes, Instructor Bas."

"Do you think I would teach you or ask something impossible of you?" she asked him. "Have I done that before? Has anyone in the faculty?"

A shake of the head. Regretful. Ashamed.

"No, Instructor Bas."

"Then?"

Mul inclined his head deeply, and at his side, Wolfie somehow repeated the gesture. "I'm sorry, Instructor Bas. I did not think."

"No, you did not. And berserkers always think, Mul," she said. "If they don't, they're just loud, dumb brutes, swinging their hands around and hoping for good results. Is that what you want?"

"No, Instructor Bas."

"Then show me. Think, from now on, before you act and before you speak," she said. "And think above all before you enrage, and before you let go of it. Is that clear."

"Yes, instructor," he said, his head still bowed.

Instructor Bas sighed.

"Raise your head. And you too, Wolfie," she said, pursing her lips to keep a rebellious smile from taking her at the comical side of a wolf cub trying to bow down to her. "Already he changes and matures, so do the same, Mul. For yourself, and for the people you care about."

"Yes, instructor. And I… I will fight barehanded," Mul said.

She nodded. "You will. And when you do, you'll look back at your puny knuckle dusters and wonder how you even managed to use them in the first place. Now, keep quiet and listen to me."

He nodded.

"You got lucky that you didn't die when your HP reached zero, and that your emergency release triggered and you didn't kill any of your party members in your rage," she said, nodding at his neck, where the red suppressor lay, invisible. "As you might've guessed, you can't rely on it to save your ass again. That illatrian was fortunately more focused on dealing with you all than in finishing you outright, and thankfully, that shit was probably formed with only half a brain… Next time you won't be so lucky. You need to get stronger, and the only way to do that is by controlling your rage and actually using your path. And to do so before your skills upgrade any further, and make it even harder for you to control yourself and them."

She folded her arms, exhaling slowly.

"No weapon, learn how to fight with your body, and control your rage," she listed. "And number four, you need to increase your [Mastery] and pathways. [Mastery 2], in particular, is pitiful. It's only allowed amongst the brawlers trying to control themselves and tanks who haven't unlocked their affinity yet, so from now on, I want it to upgrade. And there's only one way for you to do so. Forget about peaceful, soothing meditations… You will burn your pathways deeper and wider, burning through your limits again and again, through pain and struggle. The more you burn, the more [Mastery] you will gain. That is the only way for us."

He nodded. "And my [Meditation]? Will it stop working?"

"It will change to something else at some point," she said. "Berserkers top up in different ways, and none of them are peaceful. But that's the one thing you don't need to worry about, as it will happen as you learn to control and use your rage."

She lifted her discarded tablet and scanned through it.

"We'll focus on getting enough control to at least be able to let you use your passives. [Heart of Rage] and [Affinity to the Raging Flames], as without at least these two, you won't be able to survive where you're all going," she said, and at his questioning look, she shook her head. "Not the easy upcoming dungeons. What comes after. But it's still being finalized, so wait for the captain's announcement."

She looked up and the two passive skills she had mentioned appeared in the air between the two of them.

"Our greatest need right now, and for all the other brawlers, is for you all to be able to enrage and stay in control of yourselves. For you, that means entering [Heart of Rage] without losing your mind. But here's the catch…"

Her index finger brushed against the window, and words became highlighted in a deep orange within the gray window.

"[Burning Anger]," Mul read. "I can't spend those instances yet. Not without my active skills."

She nodded. "And you won't be able to use them for a while yet. But this more or less works to our advantage… Without a way to spend those [Burning Anger] instances, it will be up to you to keep a tight control on the incrementing of your anger. The angrier you get, the more you enrage, the more instances you will have… And the more you will suffer for it when you enter [Heart of Loss]."

Mul's jaw clenched. "If I have too many instances…"

"You'll be weakened for any subsequent fighting until the debuff wears off," she continued. "And a berserker that can't enrage is useless."

Mul nodded at her words. "So enrage, but not too much. Or else I can't enrage again."

"Or else you might be dead," she said, matter-of-factly. "This will be your trial of control. Prove to yourself, without a shadow of doubt, that it can be done, that you can enrage and remain in control as your entire being is set ablaze with the hottest, most molten rage you have ever experienced in your entire life, and I will allow you the use of your actives, and green light your advancement."

She stared down at him, her eyes almost cold.

"Don't, and you will remain shackled, like a rabid beast," she said. "One who could bare their fangs even at their closest, most beloved people."

Her words stopped him short, and a shiver of dread ran down his back.

"It happens, Mul," she said, her tone hushed. "I've seen it… And it's not pretty. Unless you want to wake up from a blood filled, rage craze to find your party members in bits, their gore splattered all over you, hot and steaming and quivering, then I suggest you give it your all."

Mul could only give her a nod, and Wolfie shivered in his laps, making a pitiful whine.

"Good. It seems it sunk in," she said, her eyes returning to the window in between them. "You'll also gain instances of [The Roaring Fire Within] unfortunately, whether you like it or not, so you and your party are going to need to do something about it. The fact that you need to be away from other people because of it, also lends strength to your need to learn proper defensive techniques. Hopefully, you'll gain some defensive skills as well, passive and active, but don't put too much weight on those. You'll be a tough DPS for sure, but not a tank."

She leaned back from the floating window, and looked over it to consider him. Both her apprentice and his bonded companion still looked startled and shocked by her revelation, and she sighed wearily.

"Rage is everything, Mul. Everything! For a berserker path, rage is sustenance, the enabler, and the catalyst. It's our power source, just as much as our auras themselves are," she said. "But you cannot forget that this rage, the overbearing kind that we wield, is a negative emotion. A dark path, so to speak, and wielding it means that a berserker is always inviting disaster… With the chance of things going horribly wrong being present every time they enrage. For us, and for our parties, and whoever might be around us at the time."

She raised her chin, her smooth, dark cerulean suppressor gleaming faintly amidst the dark brown fur that comprised her neck.

"It's not for nothing that we wear these suppressors, Mul. And until you learn to control your rage, to master it, and to make it yours, both in calling upon it and more importantly in letting go of it, you will progress nowhere. And you will remain weak and defenseless, and at risk of not being able to tell between friend and foe."

Mul's jaw was so tight, she could see the tendons snapped taunt across his features.

"Control it, or it will continue to control you. And if that happens, you will regret it."

The brawler looked down at the little cub, and the white fluff opened its deep, vibrant blue eyes to stare back at him, unflinching and undaunted.

Mul nodded. "Alright. When do we start, instructor?"