The Combat Alchemist

The clattering of wood against wood echoed out in the training field as Lukas' staff met Akira's time and again in a back-and-forth exchange. Lukas struggled to get the upper hand and put Akira on the back foot. Not only did she have an edge when it came to her stats, but she also had a lot more combat experience compared to Lukas. Then there was the fact that she was more familiar with the staff due to her spear use, while Lukas was still learning.

It had become part of their training routine to spar with various weapons, for Lukas it allowed him to familiarize himself with them in order to summon them with Star Forged Armory, but it also helped him solidify the basics of fighting while giving him a chance to fight against different weapon types. It was something that helped Akira as well, as while Lukas lost engagements more often than not, he did score a few hits now and again.

Though to be fair to her, Akira was limiting herself to the basics to make things more even. That only highlighted how far Lukas had to go.

A point that was well made when the shaft of Akira's staff smashed into the side of his head with a "Crack!", laying him out flat on the grassy lawn. A nearby goddess snickered, and Akira leaned over him.

"You okay?" she asked, putting her weight on her staff, "I didn't hit you in the head too hard, did I?"

With a grunt, Lukas sat up, adjusting his grip on his own staff, "I'm fine, you hit the edge of my mask, not my head."

She offered him her hand, and he took it. Pulling him to his feet, Akira squinted slightly, "Is the mask all right? I don't see any cracks or chips."

From her sprawled position in the grass, Sera scoffed, "You could drop the ducal palace on that thing and it wouldn't leave so much as a scratch."

Lukas shot a curious glance her way and found the goddess staring up at the cloudless sky. "It's all right," he assured Akira, "I just wish there weren't so many people here to watch me get thrown around."

They glanced around the field, spotting multiple small groups and teams scattered about and doing their own training. Some were sparring like them, others doing physical training, or running the obstacle course.

Akira wrinkled her nose in annoyance, "The only reason I come to this old field is because it's always empty, and I don't have to worry about someone bothering me."

Lukas couldn't help but agree, as on more than one occasion he'd felt others watching their spar. It threw him off every time and made him self-conscious, which inevitably led to him losing an exchange. It wasn't just the spar, either.

When they'd shown up at their usual time the field had been empty, but as they started training more and more people began to show up. It was distracting as hell, especially because he knew they were there for him.

"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours and the vultures are already circling," he grunted.

Akira refocused on him, her annoyance turning to curiosity, "What's a vulture?"

"It's a scavenger bird that eats dead animals. They're ugly bastards, too, they don't have any feathers on their heads to avoid getting blood on them." Lukas shuddered.

"We have something like that," she said, "They're the size of a large wagon and usually eat dead bodies whole. You won't find any around here, though, the trees are too close for their massive wings. They mostly stick to mountainous and arid regions."

"They sound horrifying."

She shrugged like it was no big deal, "They leave the living alone. So long as you aren't too close to a corpse you'll avoid being eaten by accident. Anyway, I think it's about time I give you this."

Lukas blinked, blindsided by the sudden change in topic as Akira pulled something from the bag of holding at her waist. It was a book. A metallic gray color, it was reminiscent of an overcast sky, and was kept closed by leather cords of the same color.

Holding it out for him, Lukas took it from her with a raised brow hidden by his mask. Giving the thing a once-over, he didn't notice anything special about it, other than a sense that it held some sort of magic. Seeing no title or anything else on the plain gray leather, Lukas used his identity on the book.

[Tome of Combat Technique (legendary)] – A tome produced by a skilled combatant, intended to bestow the recipient with the basics of combat and an introduction to combat techniques. Absorbing this tome will infuse knowledge into your mind, but will have no bearing on classes, stats, or titles. Note that this item is one-time use.

Requirements: Ability to use mana.

Uses: 1/1

"A tome," Lukas said, surprised.

Suffice to say, Lukas hadn't been expecting a tome. To his knowledge, they were relatively rare and costly, so his reaction was warranted.

There were a few things that stood out to him as he read the description, though. Primarily, there was the fact that the tome didn't give him any sort of ability or class, it was just a knowledge dump. That led into the fact that it had no bearing on his class, abilities, or stats, which he thought was an interesting thing to point out, and he wondered if there were tomes that did affect them. Lastly, was the fact that the description didn't say anything about the effects being permanent, and he questioned if that meant it could be forgotten or lost.

"Uh, yeah," Akira said, sounding surprised herself, before leaning in conspiratorially, "Wait, did your ability tell you that?"

"Yes," he said, rolling his eyes, "I've also used a tome and an artifact before, but why give me this?"

"Whoa," she muttered, "How does it work? Does it put knowledge in your mind or—?"

Lukas held up the gray book, "The tome," he insisted pointedly, ignoring her questions.

She sighed and retreated to a normal distance, "Alright, fine. It will help you in your combat training. You've pretty much got the basics down, and that will help you learn techniques."

"This will give me a fighting style?" he asked, refocusing on the tome in his hand.

"No," Akira shook her head, "Everyone has a personal fighting style that is unique to their classes and abilities. You start to form one in copper rank, and when you have all your abilities at peak copper and bronze you really start putting it all together. What that does is give you a solid theoretical foundation. All styles have things in common, and that's what the tome is for."

"Okay, but aren't tomes pretty expensive?" Lukas asked hesitantly, ready to give it back at a moment's notice.

"Yes, but—"

"Mmm," he grunted.

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"Don't even," she scolded, slapping his shoulder lightly, "We give these to all our young talents, me included. And you are a talent."

"I'm not talented," he retorted.

Akira stared at him from beneath two raised brows, "Lukas, you have been here for almost two months and have done and learned more in that time than most do in years. You are talented, more than most. And don't think I haven't noticed how hard you've been pushing yourself recently."

Lukas opened his mouth ineffectually, flustered by the rare praise.

"Besides," she continued, arms crossed and hip cocked, "You're gonna be on my team, but you have a long way to go to catch up to me. Learning without the tome would take months, at least for normal people. You don't have that kind of time, so absorb the tome and get to it," she said, poking him in the chest.

"Alright, alright, jeez. I'll take it," he relented, putting his hands up in surrender, "I'll pay you back when I can."

She shook her head in bemusement, "You and paying us back. You'll pay me back by killing beasts with me and helping me get stronger. Now, the tome?"

"Fine, fine. Better than paying with my secrets," he grumbled, giving the mental command to absorb the book.

Just like with the Tome of the Combat Alchemist, it crumbled in his hands, turning into strange magical motes. The only difference was that these motes were the same steely gray as the book, with a few blood-red ones mixed in. Other than that, the process was no different. The motes floated towards his head, traveled through the mask as though it weren't there, and entered his forehead.

Immediately, new knowledge began flooding his mind. Stances and movements flashed before his mind's eye, focusing on the flow and energy of the body, like tai chi. There were ways to react to hundreds of different attacks, ways to move on the battlefield efficiently, and how to best utilize basic weapons. It was all very basic stuff, but he immediately recognized how much of it could be improved and innovated upon with and without his abilities. He could only imagine how far he could take it with a full set of powers.

When all the motes were gone and information stopped flooding his mind, Lukas' head was left feeling filled to bursting and yet empty. It felt like he'd spent all night cramming for a test, and now his head felt fuzzy and he found it hard to focus.

Blinking hard a few times, Lukas found Akira watching him closely. "What?" he asked.

"Most people pass out after taking in that much information," she said.

Lukas leaned on his staff, letting it support most of his weight, "Well, I imagine most people don't have stats as high as mine."

"Rub it in, why don't you," Akira scoffed, "We really need to get you a guild membership crystal so I can see how strong you are. Anyway, you see why I had you use the tome?"

"Yeah, there was a lot. I think months might have been generous."

Akira shrugged, "Most people don't get such a late start. They begin training in earnest before they even have their first class. So, it is important we get you up to speed."

"Okay," Lukas nodded, straightening his posture, "So, what now?"

"Now, we're going to go grab some contracts, and you're going to integrate what you absorbed."

He stared at her like she was crazy, "What? I just learned the stuff, I need to go over it before throwing myself into danger."

"The best way to go from theory to practice is by using what you learned under pressure," she argued back.

"Look," he started, holding out a placating hand, "I'm all for making reckless decisions and fighting beasts, but I don't have a death wish. At least give me a day to digest and practice with some of the information that just got dumped on me."

Akira groaned, grinding the butt of her staff into the ground, "Fine, but you're coming with me tomorrow. No more hiding, you can't advance that way. Are you going to stay here?"

Lukas glanced around the field again, catching a few people throwing surreptitious glances their way. "No, I think I'll head back to my guest house and do some training there."

With a sigh, Akira deposited her staff into her bag of holding before producing her usual spear. It looked quite comical, two large sticks going in and out of such a small bag.

"Alright, well I'll see you later tonight then."

The two split from there, going their own separate ways. Coincidentally, a few of the other groups decided to call it quits as well. Having absolutely no interest in socializing with people he still considered strangers, Lukas dropped into the shadows and zipped out of the training field, earning an irritated curse from the lazing goddess.

He popped back out of the shadows once he was out of eyesight and began picking his way through the curated forest towards his residence. Stepping out and onto one of the many paths that wound their way across the estate, he stumbled upon a familiar group.

"Shit!" John swore, skittering back from where Lukas had appeared and grabbing the other's attention, "By the gods, Lukas, you scared me!"

Lukas couldn't help but smirk as he watched the man place a hand over his rapidly beating heart.

"Oh, hey, Lukas!" Lyla said, walking over, "Where'd you come from?"

He turned to the elf woman and nodded in greeting, "Just finished training with Akira, she's on her way to the city to pick up some contracts."

"Shouldn't you be going with her?" Merida asked, "You're a team, aren't you?"

"That was the plan," he nodded, "but that was before she gave me a tome with some basic combat techniques."

"Lucky," Mathias grumbled, his furry arms crossed, "Lance and Lyla got one too, the humans and I weren't so fortunate."

"Mathias, by the time we were a team you guys didn't need them," Lance pointed out.

"I know," the wolfman pouted, "Still would've been nice to have one, though."

"So, where are you guys headed?" Lukas asked.

"Funny you should ask," Lyla smirked, "We're off toward the illusion arena. There's some risky team tactics we want to try out there before putting them to use in the real world."

That was an interesting idea. Lukas hadn't even considered using the illusion arena. As Akira had suggested, using what he had learned under pressure would help cement the new knowledge. His main concern with that approach was trying too hard to integrate what he'd absorbed and potentially getting himself killed in the process. Originally, he'd wanted to use the training room in his guest house to familiarize himself with the techniques that now sat in his mind. But with an illusion arena he'd be able to fight beasts without any real risk of death.

That, and he had yet to see the place, and was more than a little interested in getting a good look at it. He'd done some reading on illusion magic and the relatively new invention of illusion arenas, and he wanted a look with his own eyes.

"Mind if I tag along?" he asked, "I've been here a while and haven't gotten a good look at the place."

"Of course!" Lance said, a little too eagerly, "We'll show you around, and even show you how to use it."

Not fifteen minutes later they approached a large white building that seemed to be made of marble. It looked like a massive planetarium, with a large dome in the center, and a one-story ring around the whole thing. Black windows stood out starkly against the bright white marble that shone in the morning light. The dense magic script on the dome similarly stood out, catching Lukas' eye. It looked so smooth and elegant, with confusing loops and strange patterns he didn't recognize. Even still, there were a few basic ones he could point out.

Walking in through the front doors, they went down a set of stairs into what seemed like a lobby. There were a few people milling about, but none seemed to care for their appearance. Straight through the lobby, they entered what seemed to be a large suite like what you'd find at a stadium. There were seats, tables, couches, and even a bar. On the opposite side of the room from the door was a massive glass wall that looked out into a bright, plain white dome. Looking out into the arena, Lukas saw that every inch of its smooth surface was covered with even more dense sigildry.

"Whoa," was all Lukas could say.

"You think that's impressive? Come check out the control panel," John waved him over.

Looking over, Lukas found the others standing around what looked like an altar. It was pushed right up against the glass wall, and just like everything else it was made of stunning white marble. More interestingly, it looked like the magic script overflowed off the control panel, flooding the inside of the dome. On top were multiple crystals of varying color, and even more magic circles that reacted to hand movements.

Lukas quickly whipped out his notebook and began scribbling down notes on everything he saw. "How does it work?"

"Lyla can show you where we enter from while I tweak a few settings here," Lance said, his hands moving over the control console.

Following the elf woman through a side door, Lukas found himself in a large room that looked like half locker room and half lounge. More couches and chairs were set up close to the nearby windows, while on the far side were cubbies with different names on them, all empty. In the center of the room were a dozen magic circles carefully inscribed into the floor.

"What are those for?"

"That's how we enter the arena," Lyla explained, "You sit in the center, infuse some mana, and allow yourself to be pulled in."

"You aren't actually pulled in, though, are you?" he asked, still writing.

"No, just your consciousness. The arena makes a perfect copy of you in there, abilities and all, and you control it. Out here it just looks like you're meditating."

From the corner of his eye, he noticed something in the arena flash. Looking in, he found that the white interior was quickly shifting, and before long they were looking out at a massive forest, just like the ones outside the estate walls. The sky was a perfectly clear blue and seemed to go on forever, the same with the horizon. It was like they were standing in a tower rather than an arena.

Turning back, Lyla sat in the middle of the nearest magic circle, infusing her mana.

"I think you'll like this," she smiled, closing her eyes and appearing in the forest below.