by Aleron Kong
Richter had also learned that a warrior with combat expertise had greater potential than a Professional Warrior who bought a special attack with Talent Points. While a swordsman with a combat expertise and a Professed Warrior could both learn Thrust, the Proficiency of the Professed Warrior’s attack would be stagnant unless they spent more Talent Points to level up the attack. The chaos lord knew full well that Talent Points were precious. No serious Professional would invest all of their points in just one Talent.
The swordsman with a Combat Technique however, could practice their learned special attacks at will to advance them. Achieving a higher Proficiency could level up the special attack. Paden, for instance, had received 0 Proficiency Points. That made sense because there was only an infinitesimal chance to earn any points with a Proficiency of 52%. Even if he had been lucky to gain a point, he’d only have earned one.
One could easily say that combat expertise was superior to combat Professions. That was a bit of a misnomer. The other side of that argument was that it took time and knowledge to excel in a Combat Technique. Paden has started his training at the age of four and after years of hard work was only now reaching the lowest rank of Granite Breaker.
It was obviously easier to just buy an attack if you managed to become a Professed Warrior. Without a teacher and the innate Talent to make the tutelage useful, even spending years on a form of weapon expertise might not yield meaningful results. One unexpected piece of Lore he picked up was that there actually was a correlation between skill affinity and the expertise to use that skill.
One of the primary reasons Olrich had cut trainees from his program was that their innate affinity for Mace Wielding was too low. Until someone reached skill level fifteen, they could not reach the first rank of Granite Breaker. The fact that Paden was able to fulfill the requirements at such a young age showed what a prodigy he really was.
Having lived through these memories, Richter also finally understood why Yoshi was always practicing the same moves over and over. He’d thought it was just about muscle memory. That was definitely part of it, but the half-sprite was also trying to achieve higher Proficiencies and gain more points to level up his special attacks. It would have been super helpful if Yoshi would have just told him that, but even though the man was only half-human, he was definitely full asshole. Richter turned his focus back on the battle.
Paden’s first attack had hurt the pincer lord, but hadn’t killed it. With its armor compromised though, he was able to land normal blows that chipped away at its health. When the cooldown on his special attack had elapsed, he used Crush on the crab monster’s head again. This time, it completely ruined its face. The four-armed beast collapsed to the ground, dead.
All the trainees in the amphitheater banged their clubs on the ground in praise. Over and over, the thudding sounds gave voice to their admiration. None spoke, but they all looked at Paden with admiration. This was what a clan chief should look like, they thought.
Olrich waved his hand after a few moments, stopping the noise. Looking at Paden, he asked, “Are you ready?”
The other trainees started murmuring to themselves again. There was more? Paden had already killed a pincer lord in single combat? Wasn’t this too ridiculous?
Paden looked back his teacher and, wiping some blood off his face, gave the same answer his father had given all those years before, “Maistir Olrich,” and placed three fingers over his heart.
The old dwarf nodded and gave another order. Another thud reverberated through the small coliseum and Paden’s next opponent charged forward. Richter watched as the dwarf used another special attack to defeat this enemy, this one better suited to dealing with a monster that specialized in ranged attacks. The third monster similarly required a third kind of special attack to defeat. Olrich had chosen monsters that each required a different usage of Granite Breaker to overcome.
When Paden was finally done, one of his shoulders was dislocated, his body was covered in scrapes and bruises and his left eye was swollen shut. Despite all of that, he stood tall. The other trainees could not restrain themselves to just silent applause this time. Their shouts and cries of praise were deafening. For once, Olrich did not restrain them. Instead, he placed one hand on Paden’s head and the other on his heart. Energy flowed from the old dwarf into his protégé. Paden’s pupils widened, his breath sucked in, and he knew!
CHAPTER 39 – Day 153 – Juren 3, 0 AoC
Richter came back to himself and was greeted by the flashing of multiple notifications. The first were the red of warnings. It said something that he’d gotten so used to bad news that seeing them didn’t even make his neck tight.
You are Thirsty! Healing effects decreased by 25%.
You are Hungry! Stamina regeneration decreased by 10%.
Richter groaned in annoyance. At least the debuffs weren’t as bad as last time. They didn’t put him in imminent danger. He started to get up. That was when pain shot through him so hard that he wheezed involuntarily.
That hurt! Why the hell had just moving hurt? Curious, he turned his attention to the next prompt.
Congratulations! You have progressed in a Combat Art! The mountain dwarf-based fighting style Granite Breaker! This fighting style …
Richter minimized the details of his new battle technique. As interested as he was in it, he was more interested in why it felt like he’d been beaten by a sock full of oranges. The kind that let ‘em know who was boss, but didn’t leave any bruises. He cycled through the windows and found another red warning prompt.
Your body has been altered to encompass the muscle memory needed to reach novice rank in the Combat Art: Granite Breaker. These alterations have triggered a debuff.
You are Muscle Fatigued! For the next 10 hours you will experience extreme pain while moving. Your coordination will also be impacted. -50% to fine motor control. Decreases by 5% per hour.
That explained it! Why was there always another damn debuff? Richter had pushed himself pretty hard in the past, but he’d never earned this one before. He was profoundly thankful for that fact. For how he felt, the damn debuff might as well be called “Gangbang Sore.” He wanted nothing more than to just lay still but, despite the pain, he needed to drink. With a heavy groan, he rolled over and got to his hands and feet. He cupped some water and brought it to his mouth. It was only after drinking that he remembered an important fact about his hands and the residue covering them. Ultimately, he just shrugged. Like his granddaddy used to say, the time to worry was before it was in your mouth.
With the Thirsty debuff gone, he started feeling a bit better. Moving around still sucked, but it was what it was. Richter started crawling up the tunnel. It took him longer than it should have, and he even slipped a time or two thanks to his Muscle Fatigued status. It was a serious p in the a. Halfway up the tunnel, he considered ordering the golem to pull him the rest of the way but reconsidered, realizing the thing probably didn’t know how to be gentle. Instead, he sent it to guard the cave entrance again.
When he was back in the main cavern, he took stock. Apart from the horrible soreness and the chafed feeling on his backside, he was doing okay. He’d found a reasonably safe place to stay. He’d successfully absorbed a Combat Art, at least up to the novice rank. He also had access to fresh water, shelter, and a dumb yet capable helper. All he really needed to do now was feed himself.
The obvious problem with that the only food he had was scorpion meat. The same food that had led to the creation of the poop cave. Even though he couldn’t rule out that he’d picked up some weird magical microbe crawling the tunnels, his money was on the scorpions being the cause of his recent tragedy.
The question was, where had he gone wrong? Assuming that the flesh wasn’t just poisonous to him, that left two options. Had he undercooked the meat? He’d basically just flash-fried the adult scorpion with his Weak Flame spell. Not really the best way to ensure your food was fully cooked. In retrospect, maybe someone that had gone to med school should h
ave known that, but then again… he’d been so hungry!
That was the better scenario. The other was that the meat had just spoiled faster than he’d thought. That was obviously the worst scenario because it was all he had left to eat. Either way, he had to feed himself and all he had left were day-old monster babies.
After he’d finished evacuating his bowels, he’d had the wherewithal to store the bodies in his pouch. He’d only saved them as a last resort. Richter had fully planned to go hunting for something fresh. Now that he had this damn Muscle Fatigue debuff, that was off the table. With the accelerated demands of his Tier 2 body, he couldn’t just not eat. He’d accumulate more debuffs and might be too weak to hunt something new. If that happened, he’d literally starve to death.
He just had to hope that the food poisoning was because of his poor preparation, and not that the meat was toxic or spoiled. The only thing that gave him any comfort was that he remembered feeling that sense of unease after eating the adult scorpion. It raised the chances of the poop cave’s creation being because of his improper handling of the meat rather than a problem with the food itself. At least that’s what he hoped. Remembering the torment he’d suffered and the indignity of… the Dangler, he hoped harder than he’d ever hoped before.
He had several uncooked scorpions left. One of them was going to be dinner. Before that happened, he needed to make a proper cooking fire. The first step was gathering up some kindling. There was an obvious lack of wood down here. What he did have were the remains from the scorpions’ previous kills. The rotting remains. He wasn’t looking forward to this for obvious reasons, but he didn’t shirk from the task. Walking through the various caverns, he gathered any piece that looked like it would burn. Fur and hair were especially useful to him. Once he had a pile gathered, he pulled out one of the scorpions and cut a claw free.
Weak Flame ignited the remains, creating an extremely foul smelling, smoky fire. It was better than nothing. It would have been great to have a skillet and a stove. What he had instead was a golem. The Earth construct held the dead monster between its large hands. The flames licked the stone it was made of, but the fire was too weak to seriously harm it.
Richter had Sloth turn the claw periodically. He made sure not to have the meat directly in the flame. Anyone who had ever cooked knew that medium heat was always the safest bet. After watching the golem like a hawk for several minutes, he was awarded his second skill in as many days!
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Cooking. By preparing your first dish, you have started upon a journey that many banished gods considered the highest art. “The flavors of a meal are like the notes of a song. Each are finite, but in their combination, you may find the infinite love of god or…” True masters of this skill can prepare a meal that, when consumed, gives the might of dragons! +2% flavor of prepared dishes. +2% yield from ingredients.
As often happened when he gained a new artisan skill, he could now assess more items. This time, a prompt appeared when he looked at the scorpion claw turning in the golem’s hands.
You found an ingredient: Ironscorpion Claw Meat
Ingredient Class: Uncommon
Ingredient Quality: Spoiled
Uses:
Novice: Chance to increase Strength by 1-3 points for 30 minutes
Looking at the prompt, Richter learned several things at once. One, he confirmed that the only meat he had left was spoiled. That wasn’t a surprise. After growing up hunting deer in Georgia, you learned real quick to put meat on ice ASAP. If it wasn’t cold weather, a buck would start to spoil within hours. The fact that he’d killed the scorpion two days ago and that it was only spoiled was good news. He was pretty sure that was thanks to the slowed entropy in bags of holding.
Learning the skill also gave him some new information about the “class” and “quality” ranks for ingredients. Uncommon meant it was the second-lowest-ranked class. Put another way, the meat could be helpful, but wasn’t anything special. Spoiled quality meant there was a chance that cooking with it might trigger a debuff to the final dish and anyone that consumed it. He also now knew that cooking spoiled meat could make it safe. That wasn’t good news overall, but it was a hell of a lot better than guaranteed sure sickness. His new skill should also give him a hint if the food was safe to eat. Unable to help his curiosity, Richter went into a side cave where he’d discarded the piece of meat he’d taken from the adult scorpion. As he read the prompt, he was horrified.
You found a dish: Flash Fried Ironscorpion Meat
Dish Class: Common
Dish Quality: Inedible
Traits: This disgusting reflection of poor life choices was only partially prepared in a magic fire. Raw in places, charred in others, it was also contaminated by the ambient magic used to “cook” it. It was inedible from the beginning, but several days of decay have made it a major health hazard. Whatever happens to the fool who eats this is well deserved. Hopefully they die before procreating.
Good god! He knew that the prompts were just a reflection of his own subconscious, but why did his subconscious have to be such a dick? Shaking his head, he pushed past his annoyance. Evidently, he’d found the reason for his explosive decompression. He’d also learned that using magic to cook things was evidently not the greatest of ideas. At least he had hope for his upcoming meal.
Richter went back and kept his eyes on the claw the golem was turning until its prompt changed from an ingredient to food. He still didn’t have the golem stop for the next couple of minutes due to the spoiled status of the food. When he finally had the construct put his meal down, the prompt didn’t disappoint.
You found a dish: Slow-cooked Ironscorpion Claw
Dish Class: Common
Dish Quality: Edible
Traits: This monster claw was slowly cooked… and then overcooked. This precaution has neutralized the food’s spoiled status, but it has also decreased the strength and chance of any positive effects by 25%.
+1 to Strength for 22 minutes.
A feeling of vindication spread through him. Not able to wait, he ripped the shell off, and enjoyed the aroma coming off the pink meat. It probably didn’t smell great, but to him, it was heaven. He definitely could have let it cool a bit before he dug in. He decided the burned tongue was worth it. His debuff disappeared and he was ready to conquer the world!
Basic needs met, Richter found a comfortable place to sit. He rested his back against the wall while he digested and went through his new prompts.
Congratulations! You have progressed in a Combat Art! You are now a Novice in the Mountain Dwarf-based fighting style: Granite Breaker! This fighting style incorporates Mace Wielding skills.
The following bonuses are given to Novices of this form:
+10% Attack Speed when using a Mace or Club
+10% Damage when using a Mace or Club
There was a small disclaimer after the first two perks of learning Granite Breaker.
Know This! Similar bonuses from different fighting styles do not stack.
It looked like the 10% boost to attack speed he got from wielding a dagger wouldn’t double if he was holding a mace in the other hand. The next prompts discussed special attacks. Just like with the sprite fighting style, Sutinn Sumotri, he was given a choice of special moves to learn.
There are 5 Special Attacks for the Novice rank of this Combat Art. As a Novice, you may now choose 2!
CRUSH
(Mace Attack)
+5 Damage. Doubles total damage against an enemy’s armor.
Cost: 20 Stamina
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Expertise: 0/250
FLOWING ROCK
(Mace Attack)
A defensive move greatly increasing the speed of your weapon to knock projectiles out of the air.
Cost: 30 Stamina
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Expertise: 0/250
POWER BLOW
(Mace Attack)
Focus all of your power to greatl
y magnify your attack
+15 Attack
Cost: 35 Stamina
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Expertise: 0/250
STONE MACE
(Mace Attack)
Hold your mace against a nearby rock source to coat your weapon in this stone, tripling its mass. The perceived weight is the same for the wielder, but your attacks will hit as if carrying the extra weight of stone. Lasts for 3 strikes. Requires 5 seconds of uninterrupted contact with a large quantity of stone.
Cost: 30 Stamina
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Expertise: 0/250
ACID STRIKE
(Mace Attack)
+5 Acid Attack
Corrosive Effect will continue for 3 seconds
Cost: 25 Stamina
Cooldown: 35 seconds
Expertise: 0/250
Seeing the special attacks, it was obvious that not all Combat Arts were the same. The wood sprite’s combat form was focused on fast attacks and penetrating defenses. Granite Breaker was focused on powerful attacks and crushing your enemies. Which wasn’t to say that the dwarven fighting style wasn’t without grace.
Ever since he’d woken up, his conscious mind had been integrating with his new muscle memory and unconscious knowledge. Even the way he was moving around, albeit still nearly crippled by pain, was different. Several minutes had gone by before he realized that he was balancing more on the balls of his feet as he walked. When he turned, he lowered his knees slightly to keep his center of gravity in an optimal position for battle. He wouldn’t fully know the extent of the alterations until he was in battle, but he felt the changes within himself.