NOVEL NEXT Book Two - Chapter Fifty-Six
The office lights were dim, their golden hue barely enough to reveal Kali curled against the far wall, knees drawn to his chest, as Alarion arrived. If the man had slept since the previous night's festivities, Alarion certainly couldn't tell.
"Good morning, Sergeant!"
"Lower. Your. Voice," Kali responded through clenched teeth. "Before I lower it for you."
"H-hangover," Bergman whispered conspiratorially from a nearby chair. The young man squinted for a moment, then added, "Your friend won't be joining us?"
"Friend…? Oh, Nessa. No. She said we were boring." She had used considerably more colorful language, in fact, but that hardly needed to be repeated. "She wanted to read, so I left her with Kotone."
Bergman frowned, not following. "Why would she…"
"To turn the pages."
"O-oh. Hmm. I s-suppose she would have to. I wonder…" Ivor spent a few moments lost in the practicalities before he thought better of it. "Later. So just us three then today?"
"Four," ZEKE corrected with enough volume to make Kali wince. "Bad enough I was left out of the festivities-"
"It was your idea not to tell her," Alarion reminded him. It was an idea Alarion agreed with, of course, but he'd pass the blame off where he could.
"Be that as it may, I'd prefer not to be treated as an accessory," ZEKE complained. "Sergeant, if you are not well, we can reconvene."
"I'm fine," Kali grunted, one large hand tight around a chill canteen. "So long as all we are doing is talking. Quietly."
"Splendid," ZEKE replied. "Shall we then?"
Alarion took one of the other seats as ZEKE shimmered into existence on the nearby desk. A moment later, Alarion's Status appeared beside him, alongside a listing of all of Alarion's skills, classes, flaws, and feats of strength:
General Information
Name – Alarion
Species – Human
Sex – Male
Age – Seventeen Years
HP – 3346/3346 [+0.1162/sec]
MP – 2566/2566 [+0.0356/sec]
Stamina – 4718/4718 [+7.863/sec]
Aptitude – 238%
UCL – 158
Attributes
STR – 637 -> 742
AGI – 554 -> 638
VIT – 911 -> 958
INT – 580 -> 624
PER – 664 -> 703
WIL – 567 -> 615
LUK – 3723 -> 3758
Classes Known
Orphan – Level 37 – Progress – 2%
Indomitable Warrior – Level 1 – Progress 58%
Unraveller – Level 45 – Progress – 11%
Stubborn Swordsman – Level 50 – Progress – MAX
General Skills Known
Stealth – Level 9 – Progress – 12%
Observation – Level 2 – Progress – 77%
Thrown Weapon Mastery – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Oversized Weapon Mastery – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Lock-picking – Level 9 – Progress – 71%
Instrument Mastery (Cello) – Level 1 – Progress – 6%
Speechcraft – Level 1 – Progress – 72%
Orphan Skills Known
Survivor's Endurance – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Orphan's Vow – Level 1 – Progress – 0%
Lucky Strike – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Mine, Mine, Mine – Level 4 – Progress – 3%
Shared Burden – Level 1 – Progress – 41%
Indomitable Warrior Class Skills
Pig-Headed Resilience – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
The Best Offense is a Good Offense – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Endure Through the Pain – Level 8 – Progress – 88%
Dimensional Evasion – Level 6 – Progress – 36%
Dedication – Level 3 – Progress – 76%
Last Stand – Level 1 – Progress – 0%
Guardian Oath – Level 1 – Progress 8%
Unraveller Class Skills
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Unraveller's Sense – Level 1 – Progress – 54%
Unbound Spellcraft – Level 10 – Progress – MAX
Lifegiving Meditation – Level 1 – Progress – 9%
Ebb and Flow – Level 7 – Progress – 81%
Summon Familiar – Level 5 – Progress – 59%
Foresight – Level 3 – Progress – 47%
Sympathetic Manipulation – Level 1 – Progress – 0%
Fatebound Curse – Level 1 – Progress – 0%
Traits and Feats of Strength
Avian Bane – Rank I
Soulless Bane – Rank II
Fiend Bane – Rank II
Favor of Lal Viren – Moderate
Attribute Mastery (LUK) – Rank II
Flaws
Splintered Mana Circuits – Major
Fated to Fight, Fated to Live, Fated to Lose – Moderate
Single-Minded – Minor (Focus: Summon Familiar)
Old Wounds – Minor
"Is there any way to dim that down?" Kali asked.
"There is," ZEKE confirmed, while doing nothing of the sort. "Yesterday, the Sergeant and I had the opportunity to confer, regarding your progression, young master. Overall, I would say our conclusions are largely the same."
"And those are?"
"You have been wasting time and potential," Kali grunted. "He was able to show me snapshots of your status since you were first adopted, and I am unimpressed."
"There are reasons-"
"This is not a forum for bickering or recriminations," ZEKE said, before the conversation could spiral. "You and I have had similar conversations several times since your induction, and I understand your perspective well enough. No one is expecting you to progress by leaps and bounds while on garrison, but you have been stagnant for years. That cannot continue."
"He is right," Kali agreed before Alarion could even begin to reply. With some effort, the Godborn gathered his legs and pushed himself up onto the unstable limbs, leaning on the wall for support. "You are in functional command of hundreds, men who will rely on you, and who will measure themselves against your strength. Yesterday's trick was cute, but you need to be stronger than me if you have any hope of commanding real respect. Fortunately, we have time."
Alarion considered the words carefully. They were right, obviously. He'd even acknowledged as much during his time in the hospital. The events two years ago had broken something in him. He'd been coasting, putting in minimal effort, save for when lives were on the line. He could afford that when the stakes were low, but those days were gone.
"A subjugation then?" he asked at last. "We ask to be put on rotation early, to build up our levels?"
ZEKE vigorously shook his head.
"No. Your recent experience drove your levels up substantially, but your foundation is abysmal." The machine touched eight skills on the glowing projection, highlighting each in turn. "Thrown Weapon Mastery, Oversized Weapon Mastery, Survivor's Endurance, Lucky Strike, Pig-Headed, Offense, and Spellcraft. All of these are at MAX level. Some of them have been there for years. If you want to progress properly, you must advance your skills, or your rank up choices will suffer."
"Not just those, either. Your Ebb and Flow is close enough that we can push it to cap. Likewise your Dimensional Evasion, or even lockpicking," said Kali.
"A-and there is your n-new item, as well," Bergman reminded him.
Teardrop of Lal Kales [Divine]
Description: This crystal teardrop is said to be a fraction of one shed by She Who Knows Riddles. Imbued with divine energy, this droplet cascades even the faintest glimmer of light into a shimmering rainbow. Cool to the touch and smoother than polished glass, it seems to instill a profound sadness in all who hold it.
Requirements: None.
Attunement Cost: N/A
Type: Consumable.
Enchantment: On mental command, you may consume this item to force a major epiphany in any class skill of your choice. If the skill in question is not at MAX level, this epiphany will fail, and the teardrop will still be consumed.
As a reward for his clever defeat of Kali, the teardrop had initially been underwhelming. That was, until ZEKE had explained the difference between an epiphany and a major epiphany, namely that the latter would increase a skill of his choice by a minimum of two gradess, if not more.
Alarion was no fan of the Four Mothers, but their enchanted items were nothing to scoff at.
"So, we push for epiphanies?" Alarion asked, though only for confirmation.
"As many as we can," ZEKE said. "Though with an eye to the future."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you're too spread out." Kali gestured to Alarion's classes for emphasis as he spoke. "Your biggest advantage, beyond that absurd Aptitude, is your dedication skill. It will be a godsend for your skill training, but you have too many classes to get full use out of it."
"Y-you're splitting the bonus," Bergman added, upon seeing the confusion setting in. "If you're sharing between three classes, you end up with only a thirty-three percent bonus from dedication. Two classes gives you fifty percent, while one fully doubles it. It is a lot to leave on the table."
"Losing a class seems like it would be worse," Alarion pointed out.
"Which is why we are suggesting a merger," ZEKE replied. "Your Unraveller skills already have a heavy martial bent. If we focus on advancing them in that direction it should be possible to alter your rank up into a class merger. You will give up some breadth in exchange for potency and more focused advancement. A fair trade by my book."
"Hmm." Alarion frowned as he considered the words. They made sense, but as was often the case with ZEKE's advice, Alarion felt compelled to rebel, almost on principle.
He liked being an [Unraveller], and he enjoyed the two-tier progression between the magical and mundane aspects of his fighting style. Merging them felt like a betrayal, like giving up something he'd worked hard to achieve.
But it was also, frustratingly, the right decision.
Even ignoring [Dedication] it was clear that he had a glut of skills. These gave him plenty of options, not to mention attribute points, but it left him unfocused. Keeping up with the skills he had was already proving to be a problem, and that would only escalate with each new milestone. Perhaps if he only kept selecting passive skills it might be sustainable, but those were among the hardest to grade up, and having a bunch of middling, half-used skills was a quick route to full stagnation for the class in question.
He hated when ZEKE was right.
"Where do we start?"