by J. J. Thorn
"Ya, that makes sense. So, why'd you bring it out."
"Ya, one sec, let me bring it out again. Takes a couple seconds."
She went through the process of materializing it again.
This time, I used my own Skill on the sword as soon as it was materialized.
View Weight.
My Skill was now almost instant for most things, so I was surprised to find that it took a solid 10 seconds to work.
0 pounds!
Wow. I had never seen something that was 0 pounds. I'd never thought to check the weight of light itself, but I guess it made sense that it was 0. But why would my Skill even work on the light sword at all?
"You're doing it again."
"Sorry, sorry. Ok, so what do I do."
"We're going to just practice your swing using correct posture and technique. Watch me, look at how I stand. When you're ready, start copying me."
Jen set her body, going into a position similar to how she had before hitting the dummy. This time, her body was completely straight as she would place the sword over her head, then swing it in a downward motion. The sword would stop at her waist as she completed the motion.
I watched her a couple times before starting to try it myself.
Setting my feet, I grabbed the sword with both hands before beginning to swing it downwards.
After seeing that I had started, Jen stopped swinging her own sword and would give me instructions on how to shift my body.
This went on for an hour as we would go through similar exercises.
After the physical training this morning, where my arms had already been tired, this made them even worse.
I had to take constant breaks, which gave me more opportunities to talk with Jen.
Apparently, her Skill required her to have a completely vivid image of the sword in her mind. She had tried making different types of weapons and objects, but only swords worked.
She also needed to have contact with the sword for it to even materialize.
My assumptions about Rank 1 Skills held firm. Useless.
Jen and I eventually stopped because of my tiredness.
The one upside to her manifested sword was the fact that she could swing it almost indefinitely because it weighed near nothing.
She still needed to train with regular swords, though, which is why she was so thrilled to hear about the training grounds.
We made a deal to meet up a few times a week to train with the swords. She wouldn't always be able to guide me, but it was nice to have a partner to train with. Eventually, she said, we would be able to spar together, but I was very far from that point.
Jen was aiming to win the tournament in the second semester, and from what she showed me, I think her odds are pretty high.
She was quick on her feet, and from my limited knowledge, she really had a good grasp of the sword.
If I had any chance of beating people like her, I would need a lot of practice.
For the most part, I wanted to fight monsters, but it would be good to know how I stacked up against people as well.
I told Jen that I needed to leave, as she made her way towards the dummies for some training of her own.
My arms were dead tired, as was the rest of my body.
By the time I left the building, night had fallen and it was dark throughout.
Luckily, enchanted lights were placed throughout the campus to make it possible to see.
I made it back to the dorm and Zane was lying down in bed with his book in hand.
I walked in, greeting him while walking in. His response back was extremely curt and his face seemed off before he went back to reading.
I decided to let him read in peace, as I moved around the room and changed into my sleeping outfit. Throughout it all, his tone of voice and facial expressions made me worried.
I resolved to leave him alone for now, letting him deal with the issue himself. For all I know, that might be his reading face, or he might even be really enjoying the book he was reading.
We had become fast friends, but there was still a lot I didn't know about Zane.
If he wanted to talk about it, I would help at that time. If things continued to seem off, I would even broach the subject earlier.
For now, I started to examine some of the notes I had made over the last couple days of classes. My body was tired and I didn't feel like giving myself a headache this late in the day. I also didn't have any books ready to read, which was something I would need to look into tomorrow. So, I once again considered Professor Valk's question.
"Why is Rank 1 important?"
Well, I don't know Professor. Other than being the first Rank we get, it gives us a useless Skill that doesn't really do anything.
I was eager to move to the next Rank because at this point the only thing that my current Skill had done is tell me I weigh more than most.
In fact, I hadn't looked at my progress in a bit.
Current Progress.
Affinity : Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 72%
Ok, not bad. It looks like it's still advancing a bit, which is good. From my talks with Zane, my progress was very high at 72%. Last he told me, he was only around 50%, which was still very good for only a month.
So far, the best use for my weight was during my fight with the rabbit. Knowing its weight allowed me to think of a counter-strategy. But even then, I knew the rabbit would weigh less than me... Did I really need my Skill for that?
So far, useless.
It was Rank 2 where I really expected to see some cool stuff. The talks during Dungeoneering class made me envision throwing stones many times my own weight, or punches that would cause craters. I knew that was a faraway dream, but I had seen crazier things since getting here already.
As I considered the question and my own affinity while lying down in bed, my eyes started to droop and I finally fell asleep.
While drifting off, I noticed that Zane was still reading the book. The same look on his face.
Something to worry about later.
For now, sleep.
Chapter 19
Encyclopedia
I woke to shuffling sounds as Zane got ready for his morning class. I had no class, but my body was still conditioned to get up early.
The school's clock tower would remain silent overnight, with the first loud noise made at around 8.
Since it hadn't gone off, it must have been only a bit earlier. The sun was shining outside, and I could hear others also starting to move around in the hallways.
I started to move my body, which made me realize that my body HURT.
"Urrghhh"
I groaned loudly as soon as I felt the pain.
"Oh sorry Ren, I know you didn't have class this morning. I was hoping I could let you sleep in."
I sat up in my bed, to my body's disapproval.
"No, no. I would've woken up soon anyways. I just didn't realize how sore my arms would be. Jen met me last night at the Field C training hall, where she ran me through some sword drills. The rest of my body is sore from class, but my arms definitely feel the worst."
"Ohoho, you and Jen are really hitting it off, I see. I think I like Cassie more anyways, so more power to you my friend."
"No power needed, we're just friends. She's really cool and I don't want to ruin anything. I'm here to learn more about my affinity and progress, nothing more."
The thought had crossed my mind, but I meant what I said. I didn't dismiss the idea of ever seeing her in THAT way, but not now.
I had enough things on my schedule as is.
"No problem, so what's your plan for today since you have the day off."
"I think I'm going to head to the library like you did yesterday. I actually have a big assignment due next week for monster behaviour that I need to start researching."
"Oh, cool. It's actually not too far from here. Head towards the auditorium, but take a right instead of our usual left. You can't miss it. I'll head off th
en, let you rest a bit longer."
"I'm up now, but ya, I'll probably catch a later breakfast. Before you go, is everything ok? I saw you pretty engulfed in your book last night, just wanted to make sure."
"Ya, no issue at all! They let you borrow some books so you can read them on your own time. Nothing to worry about. Ok, I'll see you tonight. I've got both survival and meditation today."
Zane gave his signature smile as he left the dorm room, abruptly ending the discussion.
Overall, I tried and he said nothing was wrong so I've got to believe him.
I decided to get up as well since I didn't want to waste the momentum from the week. I decided to take my time getting ready since I knew the dining hall would have fewer people when classes started.
Reaching the dining hall, my assumption was correct and the number of people was way less.
I couldn't find anyone I knew, so I ate quickly and made my way to the library.
It had been a few days since I'd seen the foxes, so I was happy to keep that going. The campus was huge, so that definitely helped.
Taking Zane's instructions, I was able to reach the library quickly. The library stood tall, with multiple floors. Walking inside, I noticed that there were balconies throughout the building overlooking the main floor. Each floor was visible, with books shown throughout.
I was not the only student here, but the library didn't have too many people. Comparatively, the training grounds had always had a lot more people.
I walked up to the librarian's counter, hoping to ask a few questions before I got started.
"Hi there, this is my first time at the library, I'm wondering if someone can help point me in the right direction."
A young woman with glasses sat behind the desk reading a book herself.
She gave a slight nod while I asked my question. Her mouth didn't smile, but a smirk did appear. I took this as a good sign.
"Sure. The library is sectioned off. As a student, you have access to the entire library. With that said, some books can't be taken out of the library. We have guards watching for that stuff and several of those books are enchanted. I recommend not trying. These books are specifically labeled, so you'll know who ones you can and can't remove. For example, no monster encyclopedia can be removed. They are needed by too many people, so they need to remain in the library, even if the version is outdated.
If you're ever unsure, you can always ask.
Those books actually have their own section.
Otherwise, books are separated by fiction and non-fiction. Everything is in alphabetical order.
Some people have a hard time with this, so if that's you, please just give the book back to us when we're finished.
Is there anything specific you're looking for?"
She gave the entire speech in a monotone voice because she had probably given it a thousand other times.
Regardless of her tone, the information was really helpful.
"Yes, actually. You already mentioned the monster encyclopedia, so I know where to go for that. I'm also wondering if there are any books on people with a WEIGHT affinity that you know of?"
The woman started to strum her fingers on her desk as she considered my question.
"Um, is that like time or the weight for a sack of potatoes?"
Crap, not again. Is this my life now.
"The second one. How much someone weighs."
"Ummm, I can't think of anything right now. If you had said time, there has been a lot of theorizing about affinities and time. No one can specifically affect time, as far as we know, but it's a hot topic of discussion. For weighing things in general, we have some books that talk about the different weights of things. This is usually used for merchants who need to know how much they'll be able to transport. Some Skills help reduce the weight of materials, but once again, I don't know about any stories that include a WEIGHT affinity.
How about this, write down your name on this piece of paper and your request. If something comes to me or any other librarian, we'll note it down beside your name. Don't check with us each time you come in though. Give us at least a week."
She handed me a piece of paper as I wrote down my name and dorm number.
"That is really great of you, thank you. If not that, what about a book on Dungeons, in general."
"That we have in droves. You can check in either section. For both non-fiction and fiction, start by looking for the word 'Dungeon'."
"Thank you very much. Have a great day."
She didn't respond but gave a smirk and a nod before reopening her book to continue reading.
I decided to choose a Dungeon book first since I knew the majority of my day would be spent with the monster guide.
Since I was learning a lot already, I wanted to grab something I could read for fun when I had free time.
I reached Fiction and started looking for 'D'. I eventually found it. Along with it came hundreds of books about 'Dungeons', 'Dungeon Divers' and 'Dungeoneering' in general.
I scoured through the books looking for a title that caught my attention.
Of them all, 'Dungeon Tales' showed up constantly. I ended up choosing two books. One was extremely old, called simply 'Dungeon Explorer', and the other was a slightly newer 'Dungeon Tales'.
With the books in hand, I decided to head over to finally look at the Monster books.
Once I picked my monsters, I would go back to the librarian to find additional books on my 3 monsters.
Already, I knew I had a lot of reading to do. Luckily, I had the whole day available.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 hours later, and I finally felt comfortable with 2 of the 3 monsters I would be presenting on.
My first issue had been narrowing it down since there were so many monsters to choose from. The book was overwhelming because of its size, so I decided to start with a monster I knew.
I looked up the Armadon to start. My own encounter with the beast and Uncle Tom's information matched the book perfectly.
They discussed a large creature that moved very slow. They appeared throughout Terna, with very few noticeable differences, based on terrain. Because of this, they said their scales were always a good resource to anyone who might be able to work with them.
Since the scales were so hard, they were deemed an F-Rank monster, with some larger Armadon's being classified as E-Rank.
The larger variety was called an 'Alpha', and apparently, this was a common theme throughout the book.
For Armadon's, Alpha's weren't common, but they were known to be very long-lived.
They were apparently a pretty docile monster and weren't usually very aggressive to humans.
As a final note, it mentioned that the Dungeoneer group should try to bring someone proficient in either blunt weapons or magic, since piercing and slashing attacks were near impossible to cut its scales.
Uncle Tom's Skill and skills were definitely the real deal.
I decided that I didn't want to present on any monster I had already known about previously. As a result, I spent the first hour just skimming through the pages looking for interesting monsters. The book was so big I only got to G before I had to call it quits.
In my current notes, I had a list of 10 different monsters.
I took those 10 monsters to the librarian again to determine if any of them had additional books on them.
Of the 10, she pushed me towards 3. I also asked, and sadly none of them were sentient, so I would need to look for that more afterwards.
Of her recommended 3, their names were: The Aphris, The Dewdrop, and The Flame Imp.
The Aphris had stood out to me as I was initially looking for Armadon. It was a bird-like monster that looked similar to a regular owl. It was irregular because of it's pointed features and purple feathers. The Aphris didn't appear in Dungeons often but was seen in forests across the world. It was also unique because it had little to no physical capabilities. In
stead, it used mind-altering abilities to confuse its prey before attacking.
The thought of a monster obscuring my mind was terrifying, but I found the Aphris very interesting. Due to its abilities, it was marked as a C-Rank monster, with no known Alpha.
The librarian had helped me find a few books that featured the Aphris heavily. Several books were put out documenting the visions Dungeoneers had seen while affected by the Aphris.
The next monster was named the DewDrop. Another bird, it only lived in very moist environments, mainly rainforests. In fact, it only came out when there was significant mist-cover in the area. It was very common in the Southern Isles but also appeared elsewhere.
The DewDrop was unique because it was exceedingly small, but its beak was very long. DewDrops were apparently very vicious. They would wait until there was enough mist to cover the area before hunting. When this happened, they would drop from their branches in groups of 5 to sometimes 25 with their beaks pointed straight down, trying to skewer their prey. They were deadly, but their beaks made for amazing arrowheads.
The last choice had been the flame imp. At that point, I'd gone through hundreds of different monsters and decided to be a little less picky. There had been fire and flame-based monsters before the imp, but it stood out because it was one of the first ones I saw holding a weapon. By seeing the weapon, I had hoped it would be sentient, but apparently not. It used a trident to attack, had small wings on it's back that allowed it to glide only, and a short frame.
The librarian had mentioned how the imps would appear in several Dungeon books, both fiction, and non-fiction as a common theme was demonic Dungeons. There were only a couple well known demonic Dungeons, so most of the books were fiction.
The Church's influence probably had a part to play in this, but I didn't know for sure.
I decided to pick the Aphris and DewDrop. Both of those monsters were bird-like, but I found them interesting enough to keep researching them further.
I left the librarian's station and went back to the book to look for my sentient beast.
