Lament of the Slave

To finally gain an understanding of the system was one thing. An eye-opener, if you like. Doing something about the possibilities that opened up before Stella and me was another. [Fierce Pounce], for example.

 

Fierce Pounce

Active I (Deviant - 30%)

Weapons are sharp and piercing. They can crush the enemy with brute force, and shatter the spirit of theirs at sight. But so can your bare fists and claws. Every punch, slash, or kick, every attack made without a weapon, carries a part of your fierceness slumbering within you.

Additional power to your attack and the sharpness of your claws increased by 45%(35%).

[Call of Nature] - Additional power to your attack and the sharpness of your claws increased by 45%(35%)→ 68%(35%).

 

I could still read the skill description, but that was about it. Without the system, it was meaningless to swap it for another skill, not to mention the whole damn swapping thing didn’t even work. Yeah, I tried. So did Stella, surprisingly. It turned out that the offline system in our minds was even less helpful than we thought, just a static reflection of the old us, a book already written where nothing could be changed.

With the way things were, that meant either waiting until we could get back to our era or trying to figure out how the skills worked ourselves. The second option didn’t sound easy, and, in fact, it was even harder to do. Remembering how I used the skill I didn’t use that much in the first place when it had been several months was beyond me. Especially since, at that time, I didn’t even think I should focus on stuff like that.

So, was my body subconsciously using the mana to sharpen my claws and add extra strength to my punches, the way Stella described aura? Possibly. It would make sense. But no matter how much mana I flooded my hands with, my blows didn’t get any stronger. There had to be more to it.

And most likely there was. Scrolling through my skills, trying to find one I could master even though it was not in my skill set, my eyes fell on one I already mastered.

 

Midnight Shine

Passive I (Deviant - 30%)

Humans are not creatures of the night, and not every beast is nocturnal. Yet your eyes shine at night with the light of midnight moons, revealing to your sight secrets shrouded in the thickest of darkness and sorcery. Whether human or beast, little escapes your gaze as the night is as bright as day for you.

 

That description sounded awfully close to what Rairok had taught me. Thanks to the mana trick, which took me a while to grasp just enough to keep my eyes from bleeding, I could see even under a midnight sky obscured by dark rain clouds. Not to mention, my eyes shone with a strange glow, just like Rairok’s.

However, the description of [Midnight Shine] did raise a question.

“Rairok?”

“Yes, Korra’leigh Grey?” Witty Deer were, by all means, nocturnal beasts. Luckily for Stella and me, as night had long since fallen while we were trying to work out our skills.

“That eye trick - I mean, the mana control your other selves taught me in previous cycles . . . does it allow me to see through - I don’t know, magical illusions?”

“No.”

Oh, okay. Maybe I was wrong then, and [Midnight Shine] had nothing to do with Witty Deer.

“No need to be disappointed, though,” he said as I dropped my ears and wings. “From the memories thou hast shared with me, what I taught thee were the basics of the fundamentals.”

A roundabout way of saying it was something kids should have been able to do. “So it’s possible?”

“Of course. Little can fool the eyes of my kin.”

“Can you teach me?

“Are you sure thou wantst to?”

“I shouldn’t?”

“Must I remind thee that we have shared our lives? I felt what thou hast felt. I know how crude thy mana control is.”

He didn’t have to; bursting my eyeballs was a rather unpleasant memory. “How much worse can it get?” As long as I didn’t burn my brain, anything was - shall we say - acceptable.

Despite him likely knowing me better than anyone else, he winced at my willingness to hurt myself. “Worse than losing thy sight? No. It’s how many times thou losest thine eyes before thou getst it right.”

“Then is there no other way to learn to control mana more finely? You know, before . . .?” I asked, my mind wandering to the moss in my hair. With everything that was going on, I was neglecting this gift from Esudein more and more with each cycle. It didn’t really matter if it withered or not, when at the beginning of the new cycle it returned to its broken state after passing through the misshapen space.

Don’t get me wrong. I was still feeding it mana, just . . .

“Looks like thou hast found your answer, Korra’leigh Grey.”

I did. Esudein may have given me the moss to prove I was worthy of being his pup, but it was undoubtedly an excellent tool for improving my mana control. Even Magus Vejahr said so.

“Maybe I should give it a shot, too,” Stella hinted at my moss in jest. Though immersed in her own skill issues, she listened.

“All right.”

She froze, her expression perplexed, as if she had just heard something that didn’t quite make sense. “What?! Wait, you’re willing to give me the . . . the moss?”

“Um-hmm.”

“You serious?”

It was really amusing to watch her reaction. I totally understood her, though. “You see, I might have been a little too overprotective of it.”

“I would be too if it was something from a level nine hundred beast.”

“Yeah - well, since we’re stuck here in cycles - wanna give it a try?”

Her lips curved upward, but she shook her head. “As tempting as it sounds, it wouldn’t do me much good. Aura and all that, remember Korra? I’m not a mage.”

Yeah, I was still getting my head around the whole thing. Despite how it looked to me, she wasn’t some magical swordswoman, but an aura warrior. A big difference, apparently. A difference I should see. Especially since I seemed to be on my way to becoming a strange hybrid of both.

A deviant through and through, huh?

Chuckling to myself at the thought, I plunged back into searching through my skills, looking for ones I could possibly pick up outside the system. And frankly, the more I read their descriptions, the more neither of them seemed out of reach.

 

Clandestine Terror

Active I (Deviant - 30%)

You’re different, and you know it. Yet, you found yourself yearning to transcend the confines of your species, venturing where others of your kind dare not, yet share a meal with them. Change is something you embrace, but your kind despises. So you can either choose to conceal your deviation and walk as an equal among your fellow humans, or grasp your new nature and strike terror into their hearts.

 

Sense of Beast

Passive I (Deviant - 30%)

Instinct is what drives beasts from birth, but the senses are what keep them alive. Honed by ruthless life, yours are sharp and reaching far. Within a 260m(200m) radius, no breath of prey escapes you, nor does the predator’s gaze fixed on your back go unnoticed.

[Call of Nature] - Within a 260m(200m)→350m(200m) radius, no breath of prey escapes you, nor does the predator’s gaze fixed on your back go unnoticed.

 

Silent Prowl

Active I

Every move you make is refined, and every step you take light as a leaf in the wind, falling to deaf ears. With the ability to mask your presence, to quiet your heartbeat, and steady your breathing, you can hide from the senses of your prey, should you choose to hunt from the shadows and cover of the bush.

 

Seriously, it seemed like everything those descriptions spoke of was already part of me, part of what I already knew, and all I had to do was get it right. With some training, I could learn to strike fear into the hearts of common folk just by looking at me. Hell, I already relied on my beast senses/instincts for the most part in combat, and Vienlin was teaching me how to prowl properly.

With that, my mind strayed to Slave’s skills.

By the same logic, it shouldn’t be that difficult for me to use [Master’s Shield]. Except that I knew it wasn’t that easy. Creating a shield without the help of this skill was something I had already tried, but with the paltry mana control I had, it was far beyond my reach.

However, not so much skills like [Tireless Machine], [Swift as a Whip], or [Lover of Work]. In a way, they sounded like variations of skills that I actually had. My General Skills like [Stride Dancer] or [Striving Mule]. Skills whose purpose was just to supplement my Class Skills.

With everything I knew now, it all began to make sense. Or rather, I saw what I already knew in a different light. How the skills and the class itself were a reflection of who I was and my potential for what I could be. When Blaine talked about how I could learn to suppress my pain through [Indomitable Will], the man - and even I at the time - didn’t realize that I already knew how to do it. It was just a matter of remembering.

As with everything, there was a downside to all of this. A rather frightening one, actually. If my body remembered all those skills to some extent, it must also remember the skills that Dungreen used to control me. Somewhere inside me, some of the [Master’s Toy] must have remained. The same with [Faint Presence], [Silet Suffering], and [Odorles Stench].

Would I remember, would MY BODY remember, if I saw that bastard again? I shuddered at the thought, reminding myself that the one thing he mainly controlled me with was the collar around my neck, not the fucking skills. 

Be that as it may, I still hated just having access to them and the whole damn slave class.

Nevertheless, as I managed to get my head out of the morass of my slave-days memories, I found myself facing a bigger hurdle. Where to even begin. What skill should I try to master outside the system first?

“You don’t know either, do you?” Stella asked, noticing my indecision.

“There are so many skills, and I-I can’t really remember how to use any of them.”

“Tell me about it. I used to have archery skills, don’t ask me why, that I managed to get to tier V before I decided to focus on a spear. Yet, I don’t think I could do half of what I should be able to do with a bow.”

“We relied too much on the system, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, her face contorting with concern as she pondered the dire consequences. “If the system should ever collapse, it will be a disaster.”

“Tsss!” A hiss escaped my lips as Rairok’s yelp cut into my ears, breaking the train of our dark, depressing thoughts. “Ye two see it too bleakly. I don’t think the kind of disaster ye imagine will ever come to pass.”

“But if I and Korra can’t recall what we were able to do under the system, what about people at levels two hundred and above?” argued Stella, who after all these weeks here was surprisingly willing to stand up to this five hundred level beast. “Tits, I was reluctant to change my skills for what I would have lost, and they? Changing skills beyond two hundred levels is almost taboo. If you do it, you must have a damn good reason and be prepared for a huge setback.”

“I understand thy fears, Stella Palemoon; I do. From what I’ve seen of Korra’leigh Grey’s memories, the system has become more of a crutch than I ever thought it could become since I heard the idea of it, yet . . .”

“Yet what?” I asked, a little too impatiently, as he paused to stand up and stretch his legs.

“Is there something we’re missing?”

“I could be wrong, but the rapid growth of thine abilities in the early days could be meant to show you thy potential on a broad scale. While class selection and a limited number of skill slots, on the other hand, to direct thy focus on just a select few.”

“Lest we become jacks of all trades and masters of none?”

“Precisely, Korra’leigh Grey. I think you two just got a taste of what it would be like without the limitations placed on people accustomed to the system.”

While I bit my lower lip, feeling guilty, Stella, apparently feeling the same way, scratched the back of her head. “We hankered to master all our skills.”

“Indeed. People of this era are used to focusing on a narrow range of skills from a young age, practically the opposite of what ye art used to.” The old Witty Deer looked up at the dark sky, his eyes seeing something we couldn’t. “The creators of the system were not as reckless as ye might think. I’m not going to tell you what to do or not do, but those restrictions were put there for a reason. That’s what I believe.”

Only six Class Skills until level 100 to build a solid foundation, then most likely eight new ones to build on what you have learned. Sounded good in theory . . .

“But that doesn’t change the fact that if the system collapses, the high-level people will be a mess. Tits, I freaked out when I realized I couldn’t use my skills properly here. They - it could cost them their lives.”

“Thy concern for others is admirable, Stella Palemoon,” Rairok said approvingly, and I couldn’t help but nod. I had noticed a long time ago that although her primary concern was her rank in the Castiana City Guards - and the recognition of the Captain - deep down, she cared about the fate of the entire Sahal Empire. No wonder Rayden wanted her to be the one to replace the current City Lord. Granted, she wasn’t ready yet, but in a few years she could do wonders for Castiana.

“Not many humans I’ve met have as many others in their hearts as thou doest,” Rairok continued, glancing at me. “Not that there’s anything wrong with caring for less. Some find it overwhelming, and so they dedicate their care to their family and loved ones. Alas, regardless of race, be it humans, elfs, dwarfs, or beasts, there are those who put their own well-being first. But to return to your concern, Stella Palemoon, I don’t think the experienced humans of thy time would have fared as badly as ye thinkest without the system.”

“What makes you think that?”

“What I saw when I shared my life with Korra’leigh Grey.”

My ears perked up. “What you saw? There couldn’t have been much . . . you’re not talking about Earth, are you?” Not being afraid to mention the Earth was so great, I couldn’t describe it.

“Thee for one, Korra’leigh Grey, give thyself too little credit. What thou hast accomplished in thy short time on this planet, some will never accomplish in their lifetimes. Nevertheless, what or rather whom I am talking about is thy mentor.”

“Korra?” Stella asked, as if I should know what Rairok was talking about.

I didn’t. And so I gave her a shrug and the old Witty Deer questioning look. “Deckard?” What the hell did he have to do with all this?

“Yes, Deckard, thy mentor of thy time, specifically the reason thee became his apprentice.”

“His bottleneck?”

“Exactly. What do thee thinkest those bottlenecks humans face art?”

Stella literally facepalmed herself when it dawned on her. “The point where people reach the limits of what they have mastered, I mean truly mastered.”

“Indeed, that’s what I believe. The system, for whatever reason, is unable to show thee the way forward until thou learnest what it takes to do so.”

In other words, bottlenecks were a kind of skill checks. “Wait! If that means he’s hit the limit of his over-reliance on the system, isn’t that exactly the problem Stella was talking about?”

“I’m not trying to tell thee that he wouldn’t be affected by the loss of the system, just that the system is built to force thee to gradually master everything it has shown thee.”

“But how can he focus on learning something he doesn’t know he hasn’t mastered,” Stella argued. Valid point. I couldn’t imagine myself being able to distinguish between what I actually learned and what was the crutch of the system. Had I not come here, I wouldn’t have even known it was something to consider and worry about.

“I’m afraid I have no answer for that, Stella Palemoon. I have lived my whole life without the system, and from the life of Korra’leigh Grey I have seen that she never doubted for a moment that what she had learned was not hers. All I can say is that the knowledge of it must have been lost in the ages.”

Silence fell over the lair, none of us knowing what to say.

“Perhaps it will be up to the two of you to teach thy era about it,” Rairok yelped after a while, his tone far too enthusiastic for the daunting task he had just suggested.

“Shit!” The curse slipped from my lips. But it was all too fitting. “I guess you’re going to enjoy your five minutes of fame after all, Stella.”

“Me, five minutes, what?”

“Sorry, an expression from my world. Forget it. Still . . .”

“Yeah, damn!”

“I don’t even know where we should start.”

“If I may, how about starting with yourself?”

At Rairok’s suggestion, Stella and I looked at each other, both aware of the way we’d gotten carried away before, that instead of looking for new skills to learn, we should truly master the ones we already had first. Hell, I had eighteen skills, and without a doubt, despite all the training, I was lacking in many of them.

Following Rairok’s gaze, which was once again fixed on the sky, somewhere beyond, my thoughts returned to Deckard. I couldn’t even imagine his reaction to me telling him I had a solution to his bottleneck.