Paragon of Skills

We all went back to the city, it's called Sunrock City.

Not unlike the Tomb of Fate, it's surrounded by rocky mountains that are made of many jagged edges. Yet, unlike the scary Dungeon, it's blessed by the warmest sunlight I've ever witnessed in my entire life.

"You've not traveled much, lad, have you?" Boomgar asks as I gawk at the place, at the way the light plays off buildings and windows.

"No, not really."

I've been to Shit's Creek, Clearwater, and the Academy. That's pretty much the extent of my traveling experience. And I know very well it's not much.

"We're going to see a lot of things for our Special Quests," Vyrrak says from behind me. "This is just a minor city. It matters nothing in the great scheme of things. The Capitals of larger kingdoms are much, much more spectacular."

"You should come to Florealia," Kai says. "Our family has reigned over the country for four millennia and it has the most beautiful cherry blossoms."

"I will never understand flowers," I hear Zibrek, the Goblin girl, say. "They are useless."

"Just because no one gifted any flowers to you, lassie," Boomgar snickers under his thick beard.

"Shut up, Boomgar," Zibrek growls. "Flowers just die. Why would I want someone to gift me any?"

"I had swarms of suitors leave flowers under my balcony in my courtyard every single day," Sabrina Margrave says smugly.

"I had suitors duel each other to death," Iskara says, raising an eyebrow in an I'm-not-impressed-at-all expression.

"I've never had suitors—suitresses? Whatever they're called."

"That is because you never were a desirable mate. Now that you're a Champion, I wouldn't be surprised if minor kingdoms and nobility started sending you marriage proposals," Vyrrak says pensively. "You might want to wait before accepting any unless you plan on getting more than one wife, however."

"We don't do multiple wives," Kai replies. "It's against our customs."

"I'd be fine with one, eventually," I say, "at least to start with." I add the second part jokingly but I see Iskara looking at me with an interested gaze.

"I didn't take you for someone to fall so easily to the pleasures of the flesh," Iskara says. "I should take advantage of it."

"Iskara, stop provoking him," Asterion, who's been unusually silent for the entire duration of the trip back to the city, interrupts. "He's not used to dealing with Great Races or nobility."

"He's been doing remarkably well for a commoner," Iskara shoots back. "Maybe I'm just training him." The way the Infernal woman says that, licking her lips to punctuate the statement, makes me choke on my own saliva.

Finally, we arrive at the inn that they set up for us. Iskara and Vyrrak themselves gagged and tied up Malrik with magical restraints that I checked myself. They have him in a box with a few holes for air.

Now, we have to wait until Academy officials come to question Malrik back at Ytrial.

Apparently, despite the fact that we threatened Malrik ourselves, it's against the rules to torture him. No one would mention anything if we did run some mild torture on the Cultist, but the Academy is very strict when it comes to the Cult of Asmodeus. Even Asterion doesn't seem keen on breaking their rules. And if a Highblood fears the retaliation of the Academy, who am I to object to Malrik being interrogated by professionals?

I would have liked nothing more than taking Malrik for a spin myself after what he did to those puppets—and we still have to explore the base where the Cultists had hidden away. I fear what we might find there.

Anyway, we all get individual rooms with our Squires for some rest and then, around dinnertime, we all sit at the same table.

Up until now, we mostly ate with our subgroups. I usually ate my meals with Kai, Fatty, and the Elves. Yet, something about the battle we had with the Cultists pushes all Champions to sit at the same table tonight—it very much feels like the banquet we had after the champion's exam.

Everyone is looking a bit stiff and the atmosphere is not exactly relaxed.

Even Boomgar, the most rambunctious member of the group, is staring into his mug of beer.

"If I may ask," I say with a touch of genuine curiosity, "all of you guys are very strong."

"That's not a question," Orrivane deadpans and then yawns.

"My question," I clear my voice, "would be, given how powerful you all are, what's the main problem you face now? Like, you've got the name, the power to back it, and the title. What even is something you struggle with?"

It's something that's been on the top of my mind for a while. I'm aware that becoming more powerful doesn't mean you get less problems. I could easily squeeze half of Shit's Creek to death with one finger as of today, but back then it felt like a veritable feat to get away from those bastards. So, I wonder what bothers someone like Iskara, Asterion, or even the stone-cold Vyrrak. They're strong, they come from the highest of lineages. What are their problems, what are their concerns?

It's also sort of a deep question that I tossed in because I am trying to build more reciprocal trust and camaraderie between us. I want us to be closer, to be able to trust each other. I've talked to Zibrek about this and she told me that the role of a Guide hardly ends in battle.

What I don't expect, however, is for everyone to look at each other and start laughing.

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"Huh? What did I say?" I ask, confused.

Every single Champion, or every single high born person, really, has the same problem, Jacob Cloud

Even King Baalrek snickers in my mind.

And that is? I ask the Infernal.

"Money," Zibrek replies.

"Money?" I look back, confused. "Why money? If you're all this strong, why doesn't your family provide more coin?"

"Karma," Sabrina Margrave sighs.

"Karma?" I ask, pretty much as lost as I was before.

"Karma is not a concern for someone with Common Veins, and often even for those with Noble Veins," Asterion says. "From Iron to Silver, or from Gold to Diamond, Karma has virtually no importance."

"Wait, what are the Common Veins and the Noble Veins? I've never heard of that definition."

"It's a very old classification," Vyrrak interjects. "The Common Veins are Iron, Bronze, and Silver. Whereas the Noble Veins are Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. After that, you have the Heroic Veins."

"The higher you go in level, the harder it is to close the gap between the start and the end of a Rank. Platinum has twice as many levels as Gold. The distance keeps growing and growing. At some point, it's so great that without Karma, there's no way for you to grow."

"Karma?" I ask again.

"Karma is influenced by how much you received from those around you," Iskara says. "If you were helped to a ridiculous degree by your family without having to prove anything, you will suffer later on. The more you received, the more you'll have to sacrifice. In part, being a Champion and partaking in Special Quests is a way to offset the bad karma people like us accumulate by being born into very wealthy families."

"So, if you're rich you have bad karma?" I frown. "Who made this rule?"

"Gods? Fate? The System?" Vyrrak replies and then shrugs. "It doesn't really matter. Time and time again, Karma has been proven to exist and have a large influence on people."

"So, if your family gave you too much spending money..." I frown. "They'd be making your life too easy and therefore you'd have to take on more risks in order to balance this karma? But how does that influence leveling?"

"Several ways," Asterion is the one replying, still with a dark expression on his face. "The first is that you will gain less experience per kill. That's how strong the influence of Karma is. Negative Karma can even negate the experience from monsters. That's how bad it can get."

"Then, you will be less likely to find what you need in this world. Let's say you need a Platinum Skill in order for you to get a Gold Rank Class, right? Then, there'll be a smaller chance of you finding one if you have negative Karma. Skill Crystals are one of the few things that our families keep in store and hoard for this very exact reason," Iskara explains. "They're too important to be left to chance and that's why even nobles and royals are willing to accumulate great negative Karma in order to provide their children with the best Skills possible."

"So, the worse one's conditions, the greater the chance of having better karma?" I ask. "Does this mean that someone like me, who grew up as a commoner and ended up as a Champion..."

"Fake Champion," Sabrina Margrave says with a smirk.

"Fake Champion," I say, rolling my eyes. "But does this mean that, in theory, I have a greater Karma than the rest of you?"

"Without the shadow of a doubt, lad," Boomgar says, gesturing for the waitress to bring another mug of beer. "You don't even need to spend any point in Luck, you lucky bastard."

"Wait, what? Luck? I've always wondered what Luck does."

Everyone looks at me like I'm stupid.

"You really haven't spent anything in Luck, have you?" Iskara asks with a sly smile.

"He wouldn't need any," Asterion replies in my place. "He's not incurred any negative Karma."

"Luck negates negative Karma?" I frown.

"Luck makes it easier to earn Karma," Vyrrak corrects me. "It's not a matter of negating the Karma, it's more like, it enhances your acquisition of Karma. It's a special Attribute."

Why didn't you tell me any of this? I ask King Baalrek.

Because as they said, King Baalrek laughs, you're one lucky bastard, Cloud. And I imagine your Grimoire told you how to distribute your Attributes already.

"You really have spent your Free Attributes on anything but Luck?" Kai looks at me in admiration. "Wow. Your body must be really weak."

"Huh?" I frown. "What do you mean? If you guys spent so many points in Luck—"

"Not many. All of them," Vyrrak corrects me. "It's the praxis. Only commoners don't put all their Free Attributes in Luck."

"So, how are you guys so strong if my Attributes..."

"Attributes don't really matter at lower Levels," Zibrek sighs. "There are so many levels in higher Ranks that even if we spend all of them on Luck right now, it doesn't really make a difference. And our bodies were enhanced with Elixirs, natural constitution from strong parents, and all manner of treasures."

The rich get stronger and the stronger get richer I hear King Baalrek say, even though it doesn't make much sense.

"Incredible," I mutter. "Well, so when do you start putting Attributes in anything else?"

"True Diamond, usually," Asterion replies. "By that time, we have enough Luck that we should have started balancing our negative Karma. Also, haven't you wondered how we're still all Gold Rank in Level?"

"I thought you wanted to be Gold Rank or something," I say, confused. "So, it's because you gain way less experience?"

Everyone nods.

"And that's why we put everything in Luck," Vyrrak sighs. "It must be nice to be a nobody who spends their Attributes so freely."

"Would it matter if I put my Attributes in Luck?"

Vyrrak shakes his head, "no. Luck helps negating the side-effects of our lack of Karma. Your Karma is probably already pristine. Luck doesn't enhance Karma—that would be unfair. It's just a stopgap. For example, even our parents get negative Karma by gifting us too much. Many things will negate your Karma."

"What about Cultists? Don't they have terrible Karma?" I ask, frowning.

"No. Karma doesn't work exactly like that," Orrivane is the one answering. "It's not about killing innocents. It's more about... imbalance. And in the great scheme of things, people must die anyway at some point. You can still... it's complicated."

"Alright," I raise my hands seeing that my question seems to have upset many people. I file a mental note to ask King Baalrek about this later. "So, you're all kind of broke? That's... funny."

"It's really not," Zibrek looks away. "My creations cost a lot of money to maintain."

"And my explosives too," Boomgar nods, perhaps agreeing with Zibrek for the first time since I met them.

Wow, they must really be craving coin, huh?

"I've been lucky with money so far," I say.

Thanks to the Runic Notation, I've made pretty much exactly as much money as I've needed.

"That doesn't surprise me," Vyrrak says. "With Karma so good as yours, you might as well stumble into a gigantic pot of gold tomorrow."

"That could be cool," I say, scratching my chin. "I'd share, though."

Even though I meant it as a joke in reply to Vyrrak's own joke, everyone turns sharply toward me, even Asterion.

Wow. They're REALLY broke.