by J. J. Thorn
Britta and Todd nodded their approval.
Zane took everyone’s acceptance and looked at Professor Renault.
“Okay, then it’s decided. Professor, we’ve decided on our guide. We choose Adam Ranger.”
Epilogue – One Step
“Emmett has started at Prep this week, Your Majesty.”
“Maybe they’ll get the boy to start taking some of this more seriously. I swear, Howard, that boy would let a servant carry him around if he was permitted to do so.”
“He does tire easily, sire.” Howard took his seat.
“I have gone to great lengths to secure the crown prince an Affinity. I have paid the finest tutors and forced him to hunt monsters nearby under the guidance of professional Dungeon Divers. And yet, he continues to show no progress. It is no wonder the boy didn’t receive an Affinity—the Goddess knew something that the rest of us did not.”
“If I may, Your Majesty?” Another advisor stood to speak. “The crown prince has only had his Affinity for one month. Some are not immediately suited to the abilities they are bestowed at Rank 1. For some, it takes a until Rank 2 or higher for them to start navigating the Skills they have been granted.
A third advisor spoke, hesitantly. “Some elemental Affinities are also known to be challenging to progress in. The location has a direct impact on your advancement. Perhaps a drier climate will help.”
“You may sit down.” The king waved his hand. “I do not need to hear any more platitudes about a son who shows so little promise. It is now the problem of those at Krader Prep. We won’t be moving him again. Did you send the message to its headmaster as I ordered?”
“Yes, sire.” Howard stood up again to respond quickly.
“Good. That blow-hard is stubborn, but Erik will take it more seriously if it comes directly from me. He’ll have his suspicions, but that is no concern of mine. Speaking of suspicions, has anyone shown any indication that they know of our involvement in the Dungeon Collapse?”
Francis stood up to respond. “There are mutterings around the Kingdom, but no one has confidently placed blame on you or anyone within your employ. So far, the Tamber Kingdom has asked for an explanation, but we have told them repeatedly that we had absolutely no involvement. We believe they suspect us, but with no proof, there is no way to prove our involvement.”
“People will talk, and rumours will spread. It will soon become a rumour and an old tale to be told in bars and taverns. Time is on our side as long as there is no proof. Even our best Affinity users would not be capable of proving our involvement. Is there any concern about the individuals involved in the Dungeon Dive itself?”
“None, sire. Two were lost in the Dungeon itself, as the Dungeon Boss proved to be a high-Ranking sand-werm. From their reports, it was high B or potentially low A Ranked. The other three made it out of the Dungeon and, to the best of their knowledge, were able to avoid sight.”
“Okay, Francis. I will take you on your word. You were in charge of picking the team, so I will leave that responsibility to you. And low-A. That would be a challenge indeed. After all of this is dealt with, perhaps I make a team of my own to challenge the Dungeon. What of the town, were there any survivors?”
“Yes, sire. We believe at least half of the town perished, but the rest have scattered themselves across our Kingdom and the Tamber Kingdom. As you stated, we have been gracious in accepting any new citizens that could prove they were from NewTown.”
“Ha! And how are you proving that, Francis? Do you check for a brand on their ass?” The king roared with laughter. “Would you have them bend over at the gates to check?”
The rest of the advisors laughed with their king. Eventually, he stopped, and spoke again.
“Don’t worry too much, Francis. Howard told me that they were in uncontested land, so I have little worry that the Tamber Kingdom will use this as a chance to invade our territory. We are not tyrants, after all. Allow them entry as long as they pledge loyalty to the Kingdom.”
“Yes, sire, but in some of the messages from the Tamber Kingdom, they have disputed that claim. They are under the belief that they had claimed that land as their own. They state that they permitted NewTown to establish themselves.”
Howard bristled as he glanced slightly at Francis. They had both been lead advisors to the king for years, and competition between the two was not new. Still, Howard could not shake the thought that Francis had gone too far this time.
Or perhaps, Howard knew this was a mistake he might not be able to get himself out of.
“Why would they believe they had that authority? Howard, was it not you and that other advisor who certified that the land was unclaimed? What was his name, Clyde? Where is he now?”
Howard stood up nervously as he stopped looking at Francis and now looked firmly at the king.
“Your Highness, Clyde did provide the initial report, and I had some of my other resources verify the information.”
“Then why am I hearing different information, and I will not ask again. WHERE IS CLYDE?!” The king’s voice rocked the table as he glowered over Howard and the other advisors.
“We do not know, Your Majesty. We have added his name and likeness to the boards for immediate capture, but he is still nowhere to be found. He has been missing for some months, and we believe he planted the information about the unclaimed land. We now know the information was inaccurate. As soon as we started to receive notices from the Tamber Kingdom, we sent resources to double-check their claim. Clyde’s disappearance only reinforced their position. We now know the Tamber Kingdom provided direction to the inhabitants of NewTown that they could settle on the border of both territories.”
“And did you not believe this would have been crucial information for me to know?”
“Sire, we believed their claim could be disputed without your involvement. They did not provide any notice to us stating that they claimed the territory, nor was any agreement made to begin settling on the edge of the wastelands. We considered letting you know but realized that their claims were unfounded in the eyes of the Prost Kingdom. While the situation might have been ambiguous before, we believe our initial assertions were correct. In the eyes of the Prost Kingdom, those lands were still unclaimed.”
“I am the Prost Kingdom! My eyes are the eyes of the Kingdom! Do not try to word-smith your way out of this, Howard. You allowed a man to infiltrate my advisors, spread falsehoods, and poison the well further between us and our greatest enemy! You are here to advise me. Advise! Not decide on my behalf. Be lucky that Emmett received an Affinity, otherwise your life would already have expired. Do not be mistaken, there will be consequences for this.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Howard said as he sat back in his seat. He knew the hammer would drop eventually, but he was happy to know he had avoided the brunt of it so far.
“Is there anything else?” The king shouted. “Do the rest of you provide any value at all?”
“Your Highness, there is one additional thing…” Francis brought attention to himself again.
The king sat back down, glowering at Francis.
“We believe the Tamber Kingdom will likely retaliate. Based on their messages, they seem incredibly upset by what happened in NewTown, and some of my spies have heard discussions of them mobilizing. I have not heard anything concrete so far, but I worry another skirmish might occur at the borders, if not a war, if this continues to escalate.”
“Damnit! We’ve not yet fully recovered from the last war twenty years ago. I cannot sit back and allow these reports to go unnoticed. Send an envoy to the Tamber Kingdom directly with my seal. Tell them that we had nothing to do with it and appease them as much as possible.”
The king turned a finger on Howard. “This is your doing. As such, you will start planning for the worst-case scenario. Do not begin recruiting as yet, but start making sure the palace army is ready.”
“Yes, sire.”
“And Howard, you’ll be joining them.”
> “Yes…sire…” Howard started to deflate at the thought of mobilizing for war.
“Oh, don’t look so down, Howard! You put this on yourself with your incompetence!” Spittle flew across the room. “This is your last chance. You won't have another. Even still, this is probably nothing more than a rumour. As I said before, rumours fly around constantly and often turn into nothing. Besides, even if a war does happen, a war is just what the next generation needs to progress.”
* * * * *
“You sure you don’t want to join?” Jen asked from outside the Dungeoneering building.
“No thanks, Jen. I’ve put this off for long enough. I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I said as I smiled at my friends and started to walk towards the fields.
I knew I could have used Field C with Jen and the others, but I didn’t want to deal with the number of people there. I’d embarrassed myself enough when I was first starting to practice the sword. There was no need for me to do so again.
So far, I had been Rank 2 for more than a week, and I still hadn’t adequately tested it. Heck, I’d barely even used it!
I made my way to the most secluded part of one of the fields, putting my bag and contents onto the ground.
Current Progress.
Affinity: Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 100%
Rank 2 – Increase Weight – 1%
Energy 35/35
Incredible. I truly hadn’t increased my Rank at all. After a week, my Rank 1 Skill was already around 30%. While I knew this was abnormal, 1% at any Rank for too long was just pitiful. Time to do some tests.
I stood up and started to think about my Skills. First, I used my Rank 1 Skill on myself without any additional Energy.
‘View Weight’.
180 pounds!
Same as always. Okay, let’s try this now.
“‘Increase Weight’,” I said out loud. Immediately my Energy started to plummet drastically. And yet, I couldn’t tell if anything was happening.
I felt no different, but I knew my Energy was almost completely gone.
I tried to think of something that might stop the Skill from draining my Energy. Nothing else came to me, so I decided to try meditating.
I usually sat down to meditate, but as I started to sit, I felt my Energy bottom out entirely as I went into Burnout. I fell onto my back and my mind reeled.
My head spun as I tried everything in my power to stay conscious. It took what felt like hours for my mind to finally settle enough for me to open my eyes and start thinking again. I looked around me, and everything looked the same except for where I had fallen onto the ground.
While it was only slight, I could that I had made an indent in the grass beneath where I’d fallen. With nothing else to go on, a back that was hurting, and an aching head, I considered heading back to the dorms, but I knew I should try at least one more time before giving up.
This time, I stayed seated as I looked internally. I started to meditate as I watched my Energy travel around my body and slowly increase as Energy returned. At higher proficiencies, meditation could increase your Energy recovery, but for me, the change was minor as it took another hour for all of it to return.
Without standing up, I continued to meditate as I focused on my Energy. I had done this quite a bit in the wagon, and I quickly noticed some of the Energy flowing through my limbs.
With the concept firmly placed in my mind, I tried again to access my Skill. This time I focused intensely on some of the ‘Trickling’ exercises I had learned in Professor Wilks’ Energy Manipulation class.
My thoughts did not sway as I thought intensely about using the least amount of Mana possible to enact my Skill. I focused on specific parts of my body's Energy and ‘willed’ them to stay inactive for the next Skill usage. I had no idea if this would work, but a vital component of this was Visualization, so I thought about putting some of the Energy behind a wall as I allowed the rest of the Energy to run freely.
I noticed that this alone took some Energy, but I didn’t let it phase me as I just waited for the Energy to recover while I focused, deeply, on these concepts.
After a while, it became more manageable, and I felt more comfortable with the process. When my Energy was full again, I finally used my Skill.
“‘Increase Weight’.”
Again, my Energy dipped automatically, and I began to worry that the same thing would happen, but I continued to focus on my Visualizations. Somehow, they worked, as the waterfall of Energy stopped without completely draining this time.
Current Progress.
Affinity: Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 100%
Rank 2 – Increase Weight – 3%
Energy 5/38
I kept still as I looked at my progress and Energy reserves. Both had increased, which I was excited about, but I still felt nothing.
Confused, I decided to stand up to see if the grass had changed around me. I took great care to keep my mental exercises in place as I slowly tried to get up.
I remained slow, but as soon as I moved, my Energy plummeted, and I was yet again on the ground.
“What the hell?” I screamed in frustration.
Once again in Burnout, I was thrilled to be still awake. The pain wasn’t as bad as last time, but I still couldn’t figure out what was happening.
I sat down in a meditative pose again. My Rank progress had changed, and my Energy had increased, so I knew something was going right, but I still had no idea what!
I thought back to what I had learned when I first got the Skill. As though the Goddess herself was telling me, I intuitively knew that the Skill's purpose was to increase my weight specifically. I knew that something was happening to my body, but I needed a way to figure out what.
As a final attempt, I decided to try using both Skills at once. My theory was that I knew my weight was probably increasing, but I couldn’t tell by how much. My body didn’t visibly change, nor did anything around me, so I had no way of tracking what was happening. Falling while the Skill was still active had caused disturbances in the grass, but I still didn’t know what that meant.
I thought back to all the times Zane and the rest had joked about trying to use my Rank 1 Skill for extended periods. For once, a useless application of my Skill would hopefully pay off.
Focusing again, I waited for my Energy to recover completely. Once recovered, I took the time to prepare. With those thoughts in place, I used my Rank 1 Skill.
‘View Weight’!
180 pounds!
After its use, I spent additional Energy to keep it active for longer.
Through testing in the past, I knew that it was possible to keep it active for up to an hour for a small fraction of my Energy. I expended 10 Energy to be sure and waited for the Energy to return.
Once recuperated, I tried to use my Rank 2 Skill again. Focusing on minimizing my Energy use, I prayed to the Goddess before using my Skill.
“Please, oh, Goddess, please,” I chanted. “‘Increase Weight’.”
Again, my Energy plummeted...but this time, I could see why!
200 pounds!
220 pounds!
250 pounds!
300 pounds!
My weight continued to increase until finally, I willed it to stop in the same way I had done the last time. When my Energy ultimately stalled, I was situated firmly around 400 pounds.
“YES!” I screamed but was very careful not to move a single muscle.
I now knew that my Skill was doing something. Specifically, it increased my weight. Duh. Still, now I could find out how much it was rising by and how quickly! I knew some people could use separate Skills simultaneously, but I never considered that I would have to do so to use my Rank 2 Skill properly.
Hundreds of questions started to go through my mind as I considered the implications of my discovery. Most of them down to one conclusion: I still had no idea what was happening.
I ignored most of those thoughts as I thought a
bout one critical question. Why can’t I feel the weight? Throughout all my musings, my body felt no different at all. It said I was 400 pounds, but I still felt like I was 180 pounds.
I paid attention to my Rank 1 Skill as it continued to show my weight. Over the next few seconds, I noticed that my weight slowly decreased. My Energy was also decreasing gradually, as it probably worked to keep my weight as high as it was.
I didn’t want to lose the progress I’d finally made, so I focused on quickly expelling some of the excess weight. I pushed for most of the excess weight to leave. It worked after a few minutes, and finally, I was left just above my initial weight.
205 pounds!
At 25 pounds over my actual weight, I finally felt comfortable enough to try and move. My Energy was nearing its bottom, but watching my Energy I noticed that it took less Energy to keep my weight 25 pounds above my own.
Still, I stood up slowly. My Energy started to descend faster, but nowhere near what had happened in previous tests. Instead, I was able to stand up and still had Energy available.
I decided to push myself further as I took a step. The rate of Energy increased, but I was still okay. I continued to take steps without issue until after the fourth step something finally changed.
As I took my fifth step, my Energy reached 0 and my body immediately felt all of the weight that my Skill had just placed upon me. My body did not immediately collapse, able to take the weight, but I fell to a knee as the sudden change had been entirely unexpected.
Burnout wracked my senses, and my body was sore but more than anything, I was thrilled at the progress.
Through my experimentation, I’d found out that my Energy was both adding my weight and making it possible for my body to handle the weight itself. I felt so little strain on my body because I wasn’t the one handling the weight—my Energy was.