by J. J. Thorn
If you consider that as a real possibility, Rank 1 seems more important than ever.
Lastly, I'll add one other caveat. We'll call it 1.5. When you get to Rank 2, your other Skills do not disappear. Even I continue to use my Rank 1 abilities to this day.
For the blacksmith, their ability to identify swords becomes invaluable as they progress. For me, my abilities to sense and manipulate lightning have only increased as I continued to advance in Rank. Technically, these abilities were gained at Rank 1 and 2, but why would I not continue to use and refine those skills as I advance?
For all of those reasons and more, your Rank 1 abilities ARE important."
Professor Valk stopped talking as she returned to her podium to gather some notes she had brought to class.
My perspective on Rank 1 had definitely shifted as part of the class. I had been able to use my Skill in several different ways already, and the idea that it would still impact my progression for years to come was very impactful.
Zane and I had been trying to use our Skills every morning, but I needed to go back to my old routines where I would try my Skills in new and unique ways.
Professor Valk spent the rest of class going over unique figures through history, focusing on their Rank 1 abilities. In some cases, their specific Skills had been documented, but in others, the scholar would only guess what they thought they had received. Either way, it allowed me to start considering the types of Skills they had and how it might apply to my future progression.
A lot of the curriculum so far had been future-focused. They knew they only had one guaranteed year with us, so Prep wanted to take the time to go through what we COULD do, and how that would impact our future.
Since most students would still be Rank 1 by graduation, it was an ambitious plan, but it really helped cement how important this Rank really could be.
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The class ended after Professor Valk gave us an assignment to write a paper on a known dungeoneer from the past, focusing on their Rank 1 abilities. We would use the resources from the library and were allowed to write on any of the people discussed in the day's class.
We waited a bit longer than normal so that we could avoid the Foxes again.
We had seen them around campus a few times, but we luckily able to avoid any confrontations. I wasn't scared of them, but I didn't want to deal with the drama of another school bully. I had enough in Huag already.
The girls had saved us a spot in the dining hall and we went to Dungeoneering class with them afterwards.
The class was similar to the previous week. Professor Renault, Luke, went through some of the formations with us, while also discussing some combat strategies for dungeons. After some other discussions, he split us up again and had us work on our formations again without any weapons.
We were pleased to have Todd join us again, along with our Ottis. We still hadn’t decided on a name, but we were working on it.
Luke mentioned that over time he would continue to add more Ottis’ to the fray, and that next semester we would begin using our gear while multiple Ottis' attacked us for real.
Before we could get to that point, we needed to first get the hand of the formations we already had.
We were still terrible, as a group, but we were beginning to improve from the previous week. Once again, Zane and Jen had gotten the hang of it the best, with the rest of us still stumbling over ourselves.
The class ended without incident, Jen and I discussed going to train in field C. Rather than walking to the dining hall, then back, we decided to put off eating for a bit to train. Cassie and Todd chose not to, while Zane and Britta agreed to join us.
We all spent a few hours training with either a weapon or by using the weights. Britta and Jen would spar with shield and sword, respectively, while Zane would train with either a bow or a dagger.
I was still staying clear of the dummies, but I was definitely getting the hang of the weapon.
And so, a few weeks passed as we continued to go to class, learn, train, and use our Skills whenever we got the chance.
Chapter 24
Surprise!!
"You're getting pretty good at that Ren"
Jen walked over to my area in the training centre. It had been 2 months since that first week of school and it seemed like a lifetime ago.
In that time, we had all gotten into a good rhythm for the week. I would spend most mornings going through my own physical training. I didn't want to brag, but I'd slimmed down quite a bit. When I first started, I was one of the slower people in General Fitness, but my physical abilities had increased. And with them, my weight had also decreased.
View Weight.
190 pounds!
12 pounds lost in 2 months. When I was back in Huag, I thought my light jogs had been good, but General Fitness had kick-started my true fitness journey. Having access to a healer in Krader had also helped. We didn't go every single weekend, but we went on an excursion into the city every chance we could. And when we did, Cassie's connections allowed us to heal our aches and pains.
Coupled with my sword training with Jen in the evenings, I'd seen dramatic changes to my body. My arms were toned and my jaw-line had become more pronounced. I was happy to say that I thought I looked pretty darn good!
The girls were now a constant part of both mine and Zane's lives. Jen, especially, was a constant partner. She would push us all constantly to try and improve.
We knew we only had one year for free at Prep, and we wanted to make the best of it.
While my body improved, so did my Rank. I was disappointed at how much my progress had slowed during the last month, but Zane told me constantly that I was moving at a break-neck speed. Even for geniuses, my current progress was astounding by his accounts.
Current Progress.
Affinity : Weight
Rank 1 – View Weight – 93%
Energy : 7/16
A 21% increase to my Rank in 2 months was good, but I was most excited about my increased internal energy. I was now at 16 overall points and had started integrating my energy usage into my training.
I wasn't able to use it on anything other than my eyes, still, but that didn't stop me. It was minor, but using it to enhance my eyes during sword training and sprints helped me understand what was happening around me...better. It was hard to explain, but I could definitely notice a slight difference.
The initial usage would always drain the most, but afterwards, I could keep it active for a small amount of energy.
General Energy Manipulation class had been invaluable in understanding what I might be able to do in the future. It was actually a more recent class where Professor Wilks had given us some tips on how to use our energy around different parts of our body.
By her accounts, your Skills were a good indication of where you would be able to use your Skill the best. For example, she had said, SWORD affinity users were often likely to feel most comfortable using their internal energy through their arms. In most cases, their Skills would already originate from their arms. Their arms became familiar with the idea of using energy in that way, so the process became easier.
For the same reason, I realized, I was able to use my internal energy on my eyes. When I used my Skill, it originated from my eyes, so I was already comfortable with it.
She had explained that it was like muscle memory. Your body would get used to having internal energy used in a certain way, and it made it easier to use it thereafter.
Luckily, this didn't preclude you from using it in other ways as well, but it was just much harder. Without a Skill that originated from that portion of your body, you were learning how to do so from scratch.
Some people got around this by having Skills that affected your whole body, but this wasn't a simple thing to do. Thinking back on Professor Valk, her 'Charge' Skill was a full-body empowerment Skill, but she hadn't received it until Rank 5. As a result, most of us were
left trying to work on it without a Skill.
I still couldn't use it on anything but my eyes, but my constant practice was paying off with slight increases to my energy total. I had so little energy right now that it barely mattered, but I was glad to see it go up.
It also had the upside of letting me enhance my Skill two times now, which meant I didn't automatically get a headache every time.
I was getting a better handle at the regulation of my energy when I augmented my eyesight too. I couldn't directly choose, but I had an innate feeling that helped. It wasn't much, but I was pleased.
"Ya, I feel like I've gotten a bit faster. I'm not just whacking the dummy anymore."
Jen and I were currently the only ones from our group in the Field C training grounds. It felt like we spent every opportunity we could coming here. After the first month where I just practiced swinging the sword, Jen eventually moved me to train with the dummy again.
It had been slow going, but the last month had been a continual refinement. I still overextended myself, but I could now hold onto the sword without losing grip.
Improvement!
"Ya, give it a couple more months and I might have you start sparring with Britta, Zane, and me."
Britta and Zane didn't come as often as us, but they would come every now and then. We were glad to have them because it added a little variety to our sessions. Britta would train with the weights or spar with Jen while holding her shield. Zane also sparred with Jen, and they had a good rivalry going. Jen was better with a sword, but Zane had been trained with a bunch of weapons growing up, causing his overall abilities to be a bit more varied.
His Dad had really wanted him prepared for anything.
He might have had an IDENTIFY affinity, but out of all of us, Zane was the best all-rounder. He was in shape, good with most weapons, knowledgeable, and pretty damn smart.
We spent a lot of our free time together and he continued to impress me all the time.
"Ya, I don't know if I'm ready for sparring yet. Give me till the end of the semester and I'll be all on it though." I finally responded to Jen.
"Do you have much more you want to do? I want to get back to my dorm soon so I can start getting ready for the surprise party."
Jen and I had decided to come train earlier in the day because we had plans for the evening. It was Sunday afternoon and we had told everyone we would be ready by around 6 later in the day.
"No, not much. Let me go through this for another 10 minutes and then we can leave. I want to deplete my energy before we go. I'm at about half already."
"Damn Ren, the rest of us can barely use it at all. You really are good with that stuff. I still don't get it though."
"Ya, for some reason I have a good grasp on it. I think Energy Manipulation class helps a lot, but I'll never know. And besides, you've all been training with your weapons for most of your lives. I have a while to go before I can fight any of you toe to toe."
"Ya, we've already discussed it and we're all taking the course next semester for sure. Until then, I'll use you as my training guide until then. I feel like I'm so close to using my energy on my arms, I can feel something happening, but I always get Burnout as soon as it happens. And don't get cocky Ren, you'll never be able to spar me toe to toe." She said with a wink.
"Ya, the Burnout was pretty common for me too. I still get it, but it just hurts less. It takes time, like everything else about our abilities. At least you've been able to use it on your Skill a bit. For me, it just speeds up how quickly I can see someone's weight. At least it lets you manipulate the length and look of your sword."
"My sword that weighs nothing and does no damage, yes." She sighed. "No, no, all good. I understand where you're coming from. I actually think I made a break-through yesterday! Want to see?" Her smile had come back and she was looking at me expectantly. Even covered in sweat from her own training, Jen looked beautiful. Her eyes were blue and I was happy to be around her so often. We hadn't taken it any further than friends, nor had we even discussed it, but that didn't stop Zane and Britta from teasing us pretty often. We spent a lot of time together, but I also spent a lot of time with Zane, so what does that even matter?
"Ya, show me." I had originally planned to attack the dummy for a bit longer, but she looked so excited, I couldn't turn her down.
We walked to one of the mats she had been training on, away from the dummies. Others were training as well, and we'd even made friends with a few in the last couple of months, but for the most part, we stuck to our own.
The girls had also been introduced to Noah, Ron, and Trevor, who joined us for lunch or dinner sometimes.
We reached the mats and Jen stood facing me. I had seen her manifest her swords hundreds of times at this point. We all tried to use our Skills as often as possible. It was a good force of habit, especially before exercising our bodies.
Like before, she started to concentrate and within a second I started to see the sword manifest. As her Rank progressed, her speed to create the sword increased constantly. It took additional energy, but she was almost able to manifest it almost instantly.
I watched the sword appear, looking for differences, but couldn't see anything. I was about to say something, but her face continued to show a look of concentration. She wasn't finished with whatever she wanted to show me.
I stood there silently, waiting for her to finish.
As the seconds went on, her concentration only increased, but after a minute she took her left hand off the already manifested sword. And with it came a SECOND SWORD!
She looked exhausted, but for a moment she held two swords in her hands, one in each hand.
At that moment, she finally opened her eyes and looked down at the swords with a huge smile on her face.
"YES!" She screamed, and almost immediately after, both swords disappeared.
"You did it! No way!" I yelled right back at her. Others had started to look at us, but we couldn't care less.
"RIGHT!? I was working on it the last couple weeks and I was only able to do it last night! It takes just about everything out of me and I'm completely exhausted, but I DID IT!"
This was a big deal.
Among everyone in our group, we were only able to use our Skills one at a time. For example, when I used 'View Weight', I could use it on either myself or an object. At this point, I could use it automatically, so it didn't really matter, but as much as I tried, I couldn't use it on multiple things at once. The only exception was 'compound' things, like bags or buildings. For some reason, I was able to frame my mind differently to check the weight of the thing AND it's contents, but even then, I was only using it ONCE.
The same held true for Zane, Cassie, and Noah. Trevor and Britta's Rank 1 Skills weren't as active as the rest of us, but to everyone else, it was always just one Skill at a time.
So for Jen to be able to create 2 swords was incredible.
"How did you do it?!"
"I think I changed how I thought about it. I had tried using it once, then another time to create two swords, but that never worked. So instead, I thought: 'why couldn't I use one Skill to create two swords.' It took me a bunch of tries, and a lot of Energy Burnout, but eventually I tried making one sword that had another sword embedded in it."
"That's amazing. Are the swords both the same?"
"I haven't tried it out much as yet, but for now, I think so. It's so now, and obviously, they still do no damage, but can you imagine what will happen when it finally isn't just light. I'll be able to make swords for both my hands whenever I want."
"That's so cool Jen, congratulations!" I gave her a hug, excited at my friend's progress.
We hugged each other for a few moments before letting go. There was no awkwardness between us as we expressed sheer joy at her latest accomplishment.
"But you know, there is one drawback to all of this."
She looked at me confused.
"And what's that?"
"You have to start training
with both your left and right hand. You've basically doubled how much work you have to do, haha."
"That's no problem, I could probably still beat you with just my left hand anyways" She smirked as she started to laugh.
We discussed her new Skill applications for a few minutes before I went back to the dummies to finish my training for the day.
We finished soon after and left the building excited. We were excited about Jen's new ability, but also about the surprise party that we had in a couple hours!
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We all crouched down low as they got close to the building. The lights had all been extinguished as we waited for them to appear.
We could hear other people walking in front of the house, but weren't able to tell when they would get there.
"Why would you want to go to my house? Why don't we go to yours?!" The target could be heard talking from in front of the house.
"Oh don't be silly! I told you, I LEFT something there when we came last weekend!" Cassie could be heard speaking in front of the door.
Britta finally opened the door and everyone yelled 'SURPRISE'.
"What the fu-" She screamed as she was shocked by everyone now standing in her family's home.
"Happy birthday Britta!" We all echoed as she finally came to grips that she wasn't being ambushed in her own home.
Her parents had discussed the idea with us on one of our trips into town and we were all on board. The house wasn't big, but we were able to fit the 8 of us in there. We had even invited a couple extra friends Britta had from either Krader or Prep. I didn't know any of them, but overall we had 15 people all gathered in their living room.