Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)
Page 27
Intermediate 3
48%
Appraisal
Intermediate 6
58%
Archery
Intermediate 4
5%
Athletics
Intermediate 5
46%
Blood Magic
Intermediate 7
54%
Bluff
Intermediate 6
92%
Cold Resistance
Beginner 5
12%
Compulsion Magic
Intermediate 2
90%
Contractual Magic
Intermediate 4
66%
Danger Sense
Intermediate 2
46%
Dark Magic
Beginner 8
69%
Death Magic
Beginner 3
69%
Deception
Intermediate 6
7%
Diplomacy
Intermediate 9
13%
Dodge
Intermediate 3
26%
Earth Magic
Intermediate 4
5%
Eating
Intermediate 6
66%
Engineering
Intermediate 2
13%
Fire Magic
Intermediate 4
61%
Flight
Beginner 10
4%
Glasscraft
Beginner 4
70%
Gravity Magic
Beginner 7
54%
Haggle
Intermediate 3
28%
Healing Magic
Intermediate 9
33%
Heat Resistance
Intermediate 1
7%
Herbology
Intermediate 2
23%
Hypnotize
Beginner 7
33%
Illusion Magic
Beginner 8
45%
Information Gathering
Advanced 1
11%
Insight
Intermediate 8
95%
Intimidate
Intermediate 4
79%
Life Magic
Beginner 9
94%
Light Armor
Beginner 10
32%
Light Magic
Intermediate 9
93%
Lightning Magic
Beginner 10
56%
Magic Resistance
Beginner 10
80%
Mana Sense
Intermediate 4
40%
Mathematics
Beginner 7
94%
Mental Fortitude
Intermediate 10
19%
Metal Magic
Intermediate 3
35%
Modeling
Intermediate 1
64%
Nature Magic
Intermediate 1
98%
Navigation
Intermediate 4
64%
Pain Tolerance
Intermediate 4
60%
Perception
Intermediate 9
24%
Perseverance
Intermediate 7
82%
Persuasion
Intermediate 8
26%
Poison Resistance
Beginner 6
4%
Resilient
Beginner 8
95%
Riding
Beginner 7
85%
Running
Beginner 7
69%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 7
65%
Singing
Beginner 7
83%
Sleight of Hand
Intermediate 5
63%
Small Blades
Intermediate 5
31%
Spatial Magic
Beginner 6
37%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 7
85%
Stealth
Intermediate 3
9%
Summoning Magic
Beginner 2
80%
Swimming
Beginner 2
2%
Tailoring
Beginner 8
18%
Tracking
Beginner 8
16%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 9
97%
Walking
Intermediate 8
42%
Water Magic
Intermediate 8
41%
Wind Magic
Intermediate 8
11%
Writing
Beginner 5
22%
Yes, things were progressing nicely! She’d even gotten information gathering to advanced! Acrobatics, appraisal, compulsion magic, earth magic, engineering, heat resistance, herbology, mana sense, modeling, and nature magic had all managed to make the jump from beginner to intermediate. She thought most of that was from her own efforts yesterday, since she hadn’t siphoned appraisal, compulsion, engineering, herbology, mana sense, or modeling from anyone.
Quite happy now, she finished scarfing down her food so she could get ready. It was time to pay a visit to the obstacle course and see if she couldn’t test out her new improvements!
Chapter Thirty-Four – Challenge
She finished eating in record time, happily scarfing down the copious amounts of food Jessica and Kaylee had left for her. She used water magic to quickly clean herself up, not bothering with a bath since she was already running late. Her hair got shoved up in a high ponytail and secured with bobby pins. She chose simple pants, her most comfortable boots, and a sleeveless dark green tunic. Keeping in mind that she was going to be at knife training later, she stuck extra clothes in her bag and added her cloak, given that she figured it would be cold by the time she came back. With weapons fastened last, she was ready to go.
“Time to go!” she called out cheerfully, causing her babies to flutter over. Willow attached herself like a barrette near the front of her hair, but the rest all chose spots in her ponytail like living gems that twinkled in her lush hair. She felt so full of energy, quickly locking up her room and bounding down the stairs happily.
Raphael was downstairs talking to Kaylee and Jessica when she bounced into the room. “Hey, Raph! Bye, Raph!” She bounded past the three of them, waving and blowing a kiss to the girls as she went outside, immediately stopping and shuffling to the side as the light and sound assaulted her senses.
Grumbling, she tried to remember when she’d last had her sunglasses. It was yesterday sometime. The morning? She remembered talking about them with the guards. Jade groaned, sighing. She’d given them to Dalton to check out, but then the alarm rang and she’d completely forgotten them. It seemed she’d have to make herself another pair, yet again. Especially because the light was so freaking bright now.
Muttering darkly under her breath, she waited until her eyes had grown accustomed to the new brightness before setting off. After a few strange looks, she laughed softly and shook herself out of her funk. Absently, she stared at the blue sky and sang softly, “Here comes the fun, do da do doo… I get to run…” She bounced cheerfully through the streets, though the only people she managed to brush against were those she came up behind. People who actually saw her were giving her a bit of a berth, and she frowned slightly when she realized it was because she stuck out too much now. They saw her eyes, her clear skin, and her shiny hair and stepped aside in deference, staring after her long after she passed. It was a little unnervin
g.
She guessed it was going to be a whole lot harder to hide the fact that she was the traveler after this point. Whether that was a good or bad thing, she had no idea. The streets emptied out the closer she got to Dracona, as usual. Soon she was hiking up the hill to the guard post, where she recognized Terry and Aaron as the guards who’d been there on Monday. They had been sitting and chatting when she walked up, only looking up when her shadow fell on them.
“Can we help you?” Terry was staring at her as if trying to place how he knew her. She supposed that again, she had changed a lot in two days, so people who only had shallow interactions with her would be surprised.
Here we go again, she mentally groaned. “I’m headed to the obstacle course.”
She pulled out her card and started to hand it to Terry, who frowned and stated, “Classes started ten minutes ago.” He had gone quiet as he accepted the card, but Aaron didn’t seem to notice.
He snapped waspishly, “Coming late because you were busy putting ornaments in your hair? Pathetic.”
She glared at him as she said in a softly menacing voice, “Did you not learn your lesson on Monday?”
“Monday?” He seemed taken aback and more than a little angry that she had dared to talk back to him. “Now listen here, you little brat. You’re just a student who–” His voice cut off abruptly as Terry covered his mouth decisively with his hand.
He smiled at Jade, handing her her card back with his free hand as he said hurriedly, “You’re free to go in, Lady Jade. Have a good day.” Aaron had gone white when he realized who he was yapping at.
Jade glared at Aaron and declared, “You’re no better than the students. Every time I’ve met you, you’ve been disrespectful and rude, and you speak without thinking. It’s a very bad habit to get into.” She held her hand up, inspecting her nails as she called on her lightning magic, causing sparks to fly between her fingers in a fine interplay of electricity. He seemed to shrink back a little bit, and she glared for another moment before the switch was flipped and she was smiling sweetly at Terry.
“You have a good day, too, Terry. I’ll see you around.” She walked past them, head held high and hand still sparking. She was here earlier than expected, and she wasn’t going to let a bully yell at her, though she disliked that it had made her a bully in return. What was she becoming?
Deep in her existential crisis, she almost didn’t realize when she reached the obstacle course. She had just been walking in the direction she’d seen everyone else walking yesterday when she heard cheering. She followed the sound, turning a corner to find herself at the top of what seemed like an arena.
Reminiscent of an old Roman coliseum, it was sunk into the ground instead of being raised above it. She started down the stairs, noting that most of the students were situated in the lower third of the vast seating arrangements for a better view. Her footsteps were quiet and inconsequential amid the cheers, so no one noticed her until she was practically on top of them.
“Jade! You made it!” She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that the first person to notice her was Jayce. After all, it was he and Glen who’d invited her. She could see the excitement in his eyes as he followed up his greeting, “Great timing, Glen’s next! Come on, let’s see if you can shoot him!”
His eyes twinkled with mirth as she stared at him in perplexion. He wanted her to shoot Glen? Why on earth would she do that? She was further confused when she saw Angus following and grinning mischievously too. It was not something she had expected from the large mage. Cautiously, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“We take turns shooting blunt arrows at whoever is running the gauntlet,” Gilbert’s stiff voice came from her left, and she glanced over, smiling in thanks at him. He nodded gracefully to her, still formal as ever as he continued, “Glen usually makes it through without being hit. I believe Jayce is hoping you can change that.”
Jade turned to stare at Jayce as he tugged her along. “Is that true? You know I only started learning how to shoot a bow on Monday, right?”
Angus was still grinning beside her. “Yeah, but we heard you can add wind to the arrows.” Oh right, she had done that yesterday… She was almost a little surprised the gossip mill took an entire day to spread to the academy. The two of them brought her to a raised platform that was in the middle of one of the sides. She could see an identical platform on the other side when she got to the top.
“Ooooh, are we going to hit him today!?” Bryoni’s musical voice cooed from in front of her as she saw Jade climb onto the platform. She was distracted by the course that she could now see below her, but forced her attention to the people on the platform. Bryoni was next to Victor and a man who looked like he truly belonged in the coliseum. His muscles were bulging, and he reminded her of a gladiator with all the skin and weapons he was showing.
“Jade, it’s lovely to see you again.” His voice was rough, and he was smirking at her. Finally, it clicked.
“Jarom! It’s been a while!” Like six whole days since he was part of her original interview to join Dracona. Granted, he’d been in the cafeteria yesterday, but she hadn’t had a chance to talk to him.
He laughed. “Seems like it should’ve been longer, given how…different you look.” He raised a brow, and she shrugged and smiled. “So what brings you to the obstacle course? This is for those with scores over fourteen.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Good thing my scores are over fourteen then! I’m supposedly here to cheat.” When he looked confused, she poked Jayce and Angus good naturedly in the arms. “These two want me to add some wind to the arrows so Glen takes some hits.”
Jarom looked thoughtful before he turned and bellowed across the arena, “Glen, you up for a challenge?” Jade walked closer, wanting to get a look at Glen before she doomed him to pain, even as she set her bag down at the side of the platform.
She could see him fairly clearly thanks to her new HD vision, and she smiled and waved from next to Jarom. Glen saw her and waved back, calling out teasingly, “Jade, are you my challenge?”
Laughing, she called back. “I’ve been conscripted to make this harder for you! You think you can handle it, or should I go easy on you?” She was getting into the spirit of ribbing they seemed to have going on. She was excited to see him attempt the course. More than anything else, it reminded her of American Ninja Warrior, a show she’d been fascinated with because of their feats of athleticism.
He smirked, calling back, “Give it your best shot! I don’t know if they told you, but I never get hit!”
She shouted back gleefully. “That changes today. Bring it on!” Turning back to the others on the platform, she smirked evilly. “Where are the arrows?” Jarom dutifully handed over two quivers, which she quickly added temporary air enchantments to. Taking the bow Jayce joyfully gave her, she tested the string a bit, nodding as she figured out just how much strength she needed to use to draw without breaking it.
Turning to Glen, she grinned as Jarom asked, “Ready?” She nodded and heard his voice bellow once more, “Glen, start!”
Arrow nocked, she watched as Glen started on the first challenge: running the gauntlet of swinging logs on a foot wide balance beam. He started running forward, adroitly avoiding the logs in his path. She released, testing her shots with this first arrow. It whizzed past him, going slightly wide, and he called out tauntingly, “Is that the best you’ve got?”
“I was just warming up!” she hollered back, noticing the other platform had another shooter taking shots too, and though they were more on target than hers had been, he still managed to avoid them expertly. Her pride challenged, she quickly nocked another arrow and let it go, picking up the pace. It almost hit him, but he barely dodged it in time. He seemed a bit surprised by the extra speed.
She added a tiny twist to her magic on the next arrow, tweaking it so it was basically a heat seeker. The wind would carry it according to her will, and her will was to hit him in the leg. He yelled in pain as th
e arrow smashed into him, barely avoiding falling into the water as he dodged a log. She heard cheers behind her from the rest of the people on the platform, but she was now in the zone.
Arrow after arrow flew, most of them not needing a wind corrector now as she got the hang of shooting his weaving figure. More and more of them landed at various places on his body, and she was positive he was going to be severely bruised when this was over.
He’d made it through the swinging logs and moved onto the platform jumps. She kept timing her arrows so they would hit him midair where he couldn’t dodge, and she almost made him miss his platform jump. He still managed to get through that, quickly moving on to what was basically the ropes section, where he had to move from rope to rope. She was surprised by how similar it was, but hard feats were hard feats in any world, she supposed.
She started aiming for his arms. On the seventh rope, he was close to getting out of that section when she pegged his hand just as he let go with the other one. With a shout of pain, he went crashing into the water, and she came out of her intense zone of concentration, looking down to make sure he was okay.
He surfaced, spluttering, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she turned to look at everyone else. She was grinning broadly until she turned and saw them staring at her in disbelief. Her smile was instantly gone, and she asked somewhat grumpily, “What? I did what you asked! Why aren’t you happy?”
Jayce muttered, “All those in favor of never having her shoot at you, say aye.”
A chorus of “Aye” rang out around her, and she frowned.
Victor, who’d been watching silently this whole time, explained, “You get a little…intense when you focus. I feel a bit bad for making Glen be the test subject. We’d probably better make sure he’s okay.”