World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins

by M. A. Carlson

  “Whatever you say, papa,” said Vari, rolling her eyes, looking much more the part of a young woman and less a soldier.

  “First, you have done as I requested, you have gained Rank II in the use of ‘Two-Handed Polearms’, congratulations on this achievement,” said the lieutenant.

  Quest Alert: Spear Mastery 1 (Recommended Level 7-9) – Completed!

  The gauntlet has been thrown. You have been challenged to raise your ‘One-Handed Polearms’ or ‘Two-Handed Polearms’ skill to Rank II in 48-hours. If you succeed, Lieutenant Saaya himself just might train you.

  Reward: +5,000-Experience, Unique Skill Training

  The quest completed, and I received another prompt right away.

  Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 8!

  +1 to bonus Holy Spells, +1-Intellect, +1-Charisma

  I was pleasantly surprised by the increase in my level. I hadn’t even realized I was that close. It also had the unfortunate side effect of promising future stat grinding.

  “Now, this skill I wish to impart . . . I cannot promise you will be able to learn it as it is a warrior skill, however, as you are Warrior Priest, we might be able to sneak around it,” stated Saaya. “I suggest for now, you stand next to my daughter. I will show you what I wish to teach you.”

  I moved swiftly to stand next to Vari.

  “Tiger Pouncing, Super Fang, Piercing Strike of Stunning, Rending and Bleeding,” shouted the tigerman suddenly, leaping into the air and flying toward a dummy almost thirty-yards away from where he started. I watched as his spear hit the target, went through; the target, the target’s thick plate armor, and the targets metal post, tearing the target from the base of its post and then pinning the target dummy to the ground a few yards behind where it started.

  I was impressed by the utter carnage such a technique could cause. I was less impressed by the name of the skill.

  “Is that really what it’s called?” I asked in a hushed voice to Vari. When she didn’t answer right away I glanced over to see her burying her face in her hands, her ears bright red with embarrassment.

  “Oh, papa, why?” Vari’s muffled voice seeped from her buried mouth.

  “So, what do you think of my most amazing skill, is it not the most amazing thing you have ever seen?” Saaya asked, walking back to us.

  I look over his shoulder to see the dummy still pinned to the ground by the spear.

  “It is pretty amazing,” I answered, still unable to get passed the name.

  “Papa, I told you, it is the ‘Piercing Tiger Pounce’, will you please stop with that ridiculous name?” Vari demanded, much to my relief.

  “Ah, but daughter, surely you know that all the greatest skills have long and extravagant names,” defended Saaya, clearly teasing his daughter now.

  “Yeah, so long the other guy doesn’t kill you before you even finish saying the name of the skill,” snapped Vari, pouting now.

  “Ah, you worry too much, daughter. Your papa is strong, I could take an hour to say a name and still, anyone I face would not be able to defeat me,” said Saaya, trying to reassure his daughter.

  I could see it had the opposite effect. In a world ruled by numbers, even Saaya could do the math on how many HP her father had and how much damage it would take to kill him, even if someone was beating on him for an hour.

  “You should not be so cavalier,” snapped Vari, getting angry now.

  Saaya seemed to realize he pushed too far and straightened up. “You are right, daughter. I am sorry for being so thoughtless in my comments. I promise, I would not allow someone such a chance to attack me.”

  Vari sniffled and nodded, her face scrunched up as if fighting between being angry and crying.

  I got the feeling Vari was afraid for her adoptive father. Given who her biological father was, I could understand her fear.

  “So, you have seen my skill, are you ready to learn?” Saaya asked, turning to me and letting Vari calm down.

  Quest Alert: Spear Mastery 2 (Recommended Level 7-9)

  You have risen to the challenge and earned ‘Two-Handed Polearms II’. The chance to learn a unique skill has been offered if you are willing to put in the work.

  Reward: Experience, Unique Skill

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “I am up for the challenge,” I answered, accepting the quest, ready to get a little training in. I needed to grind out some stat points anyway.

  “Then prepare yourself for hell,” warned Saaya, his countenance turning much grimmer. “First, you must learn to pounce, let us get to work.”

  I swallowed nervously, suddenly the Lieutenant looked like a mix between Sergeant Butters and Lieutenant Graves . . . except . . . you know, more cat-like.

  “Have you learned this skill?” I asked Vari.

  “Alas no,” said Saaya, answering for her. “My daughter has chosen the path of the cleric, no matter how hard we have tried, she is simply prevented from learning the skill.”

  I didn’t think about the words that came out of my mouth next, but they still emerged. “Then make a version you can learn, something unique to a cleric. Probably something using Holy magic instead of stamina.”

  A cleric was similar to a priest, they mostly used holy magic to attack and to heal, but unlike a priest they did not swear to serve any God or Goddess. Clerics tended to be frowned upon by the clergy as Godless heathens, I had learned as much from Trinico last month. As a result, they would probably never get some of the higher tier healing magics that a priest could learn from their deity. However, they were not limited to learning only holy magic, they could learn some other spells, usually elemental magics but the damage they dealt was severely reduced. In Vari’s case, her learning to fight in melee was quite unusual for any healer.

  Vari’s eyes widened in surprise at the suggestion. “Can I really do that?” she asked, looking to her father.

  “Hmm . . . I think you can do this,” said Saaya, nodding his head. “I believe if anyone can, it would be you, daughter.”

  “Looks like we both have some training to do then,” I said, eager to get started. I also felt quite pleased with myself for making the suggestion. After all, a child deserves to inherit from a father’s knowledge, adopted or otherwise.

  “This skill can be broken down into a few stages. First, the pounce. Second, the tiger. And third, the pierce, any questions? No? Then let us begin,” Saaya said quickly, not really giving a moment for questions to be asked.

  “So, pouncing,” started Saaya, even more eager to get started. “Stamina and Mana both have their own unique feel. Mana feels like energy just buzzing beneath the surface of the skin. Stamina is like a heat or fire burning within your muscles. Learning to feel for and differentiate them is an important aspect of learning a skill like this. You need to learn to focus your stamina or mana into your legs, strengthening them, tightening the muscles, coiling them like the cobra just waiting to strike.”

  “Mana can do that?” Vari asked, sounding a little doubtful.

  “Of course, it can and must,” said Saaya, sounding completely confident in his answer.

  I wasn’t so sure he was right . . . then again, I had spells like ‘Lesser Combat Blessing’ that added to my Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Endurance, so maybe she needed to create a similar effect.

  “Lesser Combat Blessing’,” I chanted, blessing Vari. “Do you feel that? Do you feel the enhancement to your muscles? That is what you need to do, only a lot stronger.”

  Vari nodded once.

  “Thank you, that will help,” said Saaya. “Now, get to work.”

  I knew I had to start with simply trying to feel for my Stamina. He said it was like a burning in your muscles, but at the moment, my muscles felt ‘cold’.

  “You do not feel the heat, do you?” Saaya asked.

  “No,” I answered. “I don’t. What am I missing?”

  “Stamina is a heat, a burning in the muscles but unlike ma
na it does not buzz beneath the surface. It is only felt when being used. You must use it,” explained Saaya. “The difficulty is being able to focus on it while using it. For most, they only think of using stamina as a reflex, something you do automatically when you move, or when you activate a skill.”

  “So, how do I feel it and use it?” I asked.

  “Hold these,” instructed Saaya, holding two buckets out to me.

  I glanced in the buckets, they appeared to be filled with sand. I took a bucket in each hand.

  “Now, hold them out to the side,” Saaya ordered, showing me how he wanted me to stand. He held his arms straight out to the sides forming a straight line with his shoulders. His feet were two shoulder lengths apart and bent at the knees. His head and spine were straight up and down with his pelvis. “You will hold this stance, it will drain your stamina quickly, you will feel the burn just as quickly. The trick will be learning to control that stamina, the physical energy of the body. When you run out of stamina you may stop and drink.”

  “How will I know when I’m done?”

  “When you learn something,” answered Saaya, turning and walking over to his daughter, leaving me to suffer the strain of the buckets of sand.

  I had never heard of holding buckets of sand like this, water yes, sand no. It was also really heavy, painfully heavy if the strain in my legs and arms was any indication. My curiosity made me wonder just how heavy they really were, then I noticed the debuff by my health bars ‘Over-Burdened’.

  Over-Burdened – You are holding more weight than your current capacity is capable of holding. -20-Stamina per Second until Unburdened. (445/425 lbs.)

  I was losing -1-SP per second per excess pound. I also wondered how Saaya got the weight exactly right like that. I watched as my stamina drained rapidly ticking away from 1160-SP all the way down to zero, my body collapsing and dropping the buckets of sand, which somehow didn’t spill any sand when they hit the ground.

  “Have you learned anything?” Saaya asked, standing over me.

  “No,” I answered, feeling annoyed.

  “Were you paying attention to the feeling or were you just watching your SP drain away?” Saaya followed up, making his point instantly, then walking away.

  I laid there for a few more seconds, waiting for my natural SP regeneration to restore a few more points. After that, I took advantage of the water barrel and eagerly drank the free water.

  Then I was back to work. This time, I tried to pay attention to feeling my arms and legs. Feeling for the burn, something that was quick to appear as soon as the strain began. It was hard to judge how much stamina was being used but I felt it now. I gained at least a little understanding of how SP moved through my body and how it was used.

  Then I tried to focus on it, pushing just a little more of the burning energy into my legs, feeling a little relief from the weight for a few second before it faded away. I experimented, trying different limbs and different amounts of SP. I tried providing a steady stream of SP to my legs, seeing if I could maintain that relief. And it worked, my legs handled the strain so much better but then the SP was suddenly gone, and I was on the ground again, breathing heavily.

  “Very good, you are making progress,” said Saaya, standing over me again. If I hadn’t known he was a friend, I might have thought I was about to become dinner with the way he was grinning at me. “Focus more, try to provide stamina to specific muscles, not just the whole limb.” And just like that, he was gone again.

  And so, the process began again. This time, focusing as instructed, trying to provide SP to specific muscles. I didn’t know the right terms for all my muscles, but I knew enough human anatomy to get the general muscle groups, like my quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, glutes, biceps, triceps, forearms, deltoids and back. I gave my abdominals a shot of SP and got the feeling that if I were to look in a mirror I would suddenly have super cut abs . . . I would definitely be checking that out later.

  It was an interesting experience, testing the different ways of feeding SP in the muscle groups. I discovered that a burst of SP would give me a sudden boost of strength where a slow steady feed wouldn’t give a boost to strength, but I didn’t feel the strain and fatigue, allowing for prolonged use of those muscles.

  You’ve learned the Skill ‘Body Control’ and Subskills ‘Sudden Boost’ & ‘Pacing’

  Body Control

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Subskill: Sudden Boost

  Strength Boost: +1-Strength to a specific muscle group for 5 seconds (additional stacks reset timer)

  Skill Stamina Cost: 20 per boost

  Subskill: Pacing

  Stamina Cost Reduced: 1.00% Reduced Stamina Cost to all skills (excluding Body Control Subskills)

  “Wow,” I whispered, reading the skill and the two subskills that came with it.

  “Am I to take it you have learned?” Saaya asked, popping up again at exactly the right time.

  “Yes, sir,” I replied happily.

  “Good, now you will learn to pounce,” Saaya said as if it was the simplest thing to learn.

  “How do we start?” I asked.

  “You already have, you will apply ‘Sudden Boost’ to your legs, make them suddenly stronger then jump, it is very easy, yes?” the tigerman explained before walking away again.

  I would love to have protested, but it seemed like it was pointless to try as the lieutenant was already working with his daughter, much more hands-on help, not that I should have been surprised.

  After taking a minute to refill my SP again, I got back to learning to pounce. I knew now, that I needed to boost my Strength, specifically to my legs to give me lift off if I wanted to cover even half as much distance. I crouched slightly, starting with giving my legs just +5-Strength for 100-SP. I pushed off, leaping into the air, moving forward suddenly almost 9-yards. It was a good start.

  I tried again, this time doubling the Strength boost. I leapt, covering just 15 yards, much to my own consternation. That wasn’t nearly enough distance. If I got 9-yards from +5-Strength, then the +10-Strength I just tried should have doubled it . . . unless there were diminishing returns.

  Once more, I jumped, this time boosting +15-Strength to my legs. I made it 19-yards, maybe 19 ½-yards. I jumped again, this time with +20-Strength to my legs got me to around the 20-yard mark. I tried one last time, this time with +25-Strength, but I still made I no further than the 20-yard mark. It seemed that was my limit for the moment. I dropped back to +18-Strength, then +16-Strength before I found the limit to my boost. At +16-Strength I got 20-yards, it didn’t matter how many points I boosted beyond that, I wasn’t able to leap any further.

  “Good, you have found your limits,” said Saaya, popping up behind me and scaring me half to death. “20-yards is not terrible, we can work with it.”

  “So, step two?” I asked.

  “No, step three, we come back to step two later,” said Saaya, barreling on without giving me a chance to ask questions. “Next, you attack at the end of your pounce, before you hit the ground. This time, you need to use ‘Sudden Boost’ to increase your attack strength. I suggest you use a dummy for this, you will want to measure the damage you inflict.”

  That didn’t sound very easy to do, it took me time to use ‘Sudden Boost’ enough times to make a leap of that distance. I would not have much time to boost my arm strength while I was in the air, at most I could get maybe 2 or 3 stacks. If I was right, that would not do nearly as much damage as it should.

  “How do I build up enough strength after the jump to do that kind of damage?” I asked just as the lieutenant was turning away.

  “Who said you had to boost your strength while in the air?” Saaya asked, continuing to walk away.

  I was confused for a moment until I thought about the image of Saaya before he launched his attack. He tensed from head to toe, every muscle bulged with power, just like a cat preparing to pounce. He had boosted more than just his legs, he boosted everyt
hing at the same time. Legs and arms before he pounced.

  It took a little experimenting for me to figure out to alternate the ‘Sudden Boost’ applications between muscle groups so the timer didn’t expire, until I had +16-Strength to all the major muscle groups, leaving me with just 520/1220 SP and draining fast. I hadn’t paid much attention, but this training session had yielded a +6-Stamina and +9-Strength. Considering I had just leveled up, those were some considerable gains. Still, it was difficult to focus on maintaining that kind of rotation, pushing 20-SP into a muscle group near constantly. Before I could focus enough to make the jump, my stamina bottomed out and I collapsed once more, breathing heavily.

  I let out a groan of frustration. A quick check of my skills showed I had gained a few levels to the skill but not enough to make my task easier.

  Body Control

  Level: 6

  Experience: 18.41%

  Subskill: Sudden Boost

  Strength Boost: +1.06-Strength to a specific muscle group for 5 seconds (additional stacks reset timer)

  Skill Stamina Cost: 20 per boost

  Maybe I just didn’t have a large enough SP pool. A glance at my pool showed I had actually gained another +2-Stamina, increasing my total SP a grand total of +20-SP.

  “Practice, gain comfort, you will learn in time,” said Saaya, standing over me once again. “You are on the right path.”

  When his shadow was gone, I sat up and drank to replenish my SP. Knowing the lieutenant was right, I stood and tried again. And again. And again, repeatedly draining my stamina, eventually capping both Strength and Stamina for my current level but also gaining skill levels to ‘Body Control’ with minimal gains to show for it.

  After collapsing for a fifth time, I had to stop and think about what I was doing because my current method was just not working. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I had to try something different, I needed to use ‘Sudden Boost’ on my entire body at once, not targeting specific muscle groups.