Alright I accept I can only provide you with around 20 right now I’ll have to speak with the engraver for more Do you have Claptrap hesitated armor preferences
Artisan Dwei considered No I think not But it might be easier if we keep them separate For example Dragonfly on bracers Fish on boots Bear on breastplates
They hammered out the additional details and Artisan Dwei took the bracers Claptrap had in exchange for almost 400 silver After the Artisan had left Claptrap looked down in wonder at the money
Maybe He whispered to himself and to the stars above There really is hope I’ll see you again Ciel
After hours of working him to his limits Shal considered his disciple You are not as weak as I imagined
The foolish disciple grinned at him It had been a long night of exercises and sparring pushing the newest member of the Spear Phantom Style until he gave out In strength and speed and endurance he continued to display flexibility and poise adjusting to new challenges with an alacrity that surprised Shal
But it only made him sigh No you shortsighted youngling Your strength bodes ill for your chances in the tournament There are things we need to discuss
Shal sat down making himself comfortable His disciple remained on the ground his clothes sticking to his body from the sweat But his eyes were alive and focused That too had surprised him No matter how physically exhausted the boy should be he always had one more spark to meet a new challenge
Shal’s misgivings only grew He gave the boy a frank look You still have not obtained a class
The boy’s body stilled Apparently he understood some of the issues related to this But he nodded slowly confirming Shal’s fears Shal sat back mulling it over for a long time Which meant there was always the option of getting a class Originally Shal had assumed the boy had chosen this avenue of satisfying the obligations of the Spear Phantom Style for glory in the tournament but perhaps
It was just because all the others required a class
When you told me previously I honestly didn’t believe you I thought well it matters naught But your lack of a class and your strength poses a problem
His disciple frowned Why
Ah I am being broad Your stats boy Until today I hadn’t realized much of your strength comes from your high stats I had been assuming you were relying on high skill levels to match those who had leveled to around 20 but your stats equal them They even surpass them considering you have skill in magic as well
Shal sighed again We could have made plans to cover for lack of stats but they are your strength Your weakness is your skill levels What level is your Spear Mastery
After a foolish hesitation his disciple answered 81
Mine sits at 202 Shal said shortly In this tournament it will be strange for one’s skill to not be at 100 And that is just the general The specific skills will be polished to an even higher level You simply do not have the time to make this up without the time dilution of a dungeon The top 8 No perhaps even the preliminaries are impossible for you
Chapter 139
Randidly frowned but said nothing Previously he had the strange impression that Shal’s skill level was closer to his current skill level but perhaps he was mistaken He didn’t like what he was hearing but if Shal was correct If all of their skill levels were over 100 It was a sobering thought And considering how much difficulty Randidly had at overcoming those vibrating spears of Tartet even though he used Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening in addition to the actual skill
If what Shal was saying was correct and his stats were also slightly above his opposition here and would only be on par with those in the regional tournament
Randidly shivered That kind of difference in skill was intimidating He supposed the only reason that he had a shot was due to the varied nature of his magics and he suspected that many were like him and left Resistance as a stat that did not receive very much attention
Shal appeared to be brooding in silence so Randidly asked is there any hope then Couldn’t a Classer just train in a dungeon for an extremely long time before the tournament Years even while still staying below Lvl 25
In theory it is possible But in practice few do To suppress one’s strength overmuch is wasteful and rather pointless These requirements do not come into force very often only 5 years That is enough time for only 5 generations of the best and brightest to become the youngest of the style As for those who are aware they must compete at a certain level due to timing most fear Dungeon Poisoning and would not risk it overmuch It is not safe to rely on the time dilution for too much
Dungeon poisoning
Shal gestured dismissively A word for a body grown fat on Aether The concentration of Aether is naturally higher in a dungeon Almost 5 times as so While in a dungeon the time dilution causes your connection to your village’s Aether to be tenuous but you suffer no backlash as you absorb more from the air increasing your growth anyway Then as you require it less the Aether connection to your village wanes further It will never be destroyed completely but if your body is too reliant on ambient Aether and you leave the dungeon you can expect to be bedridden for months until Aether connection to your village grows strong enough to support you once more
Shal frowned at Randidly In fact I feared you would suffer just such a fate but that it would continue indefinitely for you have no class But I believed that the Aether reward would sustain you long enough for you to find and gain a Class and develop a healthy source The fact that you have continued this far with such strength is confusing
Then he shook his head But I do not begrudge you your secrets Go you may do what you will until lunch At that time we will train again until dusk I must do some investigations We cannot rely on ordinary means if we expect to turn you into a passable disciple
Randidly ignored the insult and asked Before I go is there any information available on Patrons
Shal paused then turned and looked him up and down I had not thought of this Yes Divveltian tells me you have a merchant friend yes Consult him there are some widely accepted Patrons that have passable trials for their Initiates
Then Shal left and almost inexplicably Randidly bowed at his departing back Shal truly was an impressive spear user and had a knack for pointing out the flaws in Randidly’s form that was surprising considering his blunt communication style Well perhaps that was exactly why he was so talented at it
Although the training he had done with Mrs Hamilton had been effective it was hard to say whether it was the training style or the shift in perspective that had enabled that sudden growth And that growth likely wouldn’t have been sustainable the first levels were always the easiest to get in any skill
Meanwhile Shal was a well honed machine If anyone could give Randidly a chance in this tournament it would be him
But it was good that he would be able to obtain more information about Patrons If he ever returned to Donnyton well when he returned to Donnyton it would be incredibly useful for the people who reached the Apprentice path Randidly wasn’t really in the need of advice on which Patrons were good to choose obviously but rather he wanted to know the way the path progressed If the path he had was normal that would be fine but if it was one that resulted in him being teleported to that strange world again
Randidly blinked Speaking of Donnyton
He still took a sip of the black potion daily being increasingly confused by its seemingly endless nature and it eliminated notifications but
Randidly opened up his friends tab and sure enough due to the communications array towers in Qtal his box was filled with friend requests and messages asking if he was okay Seemingly endless There were at least 100 all from different people There were different styles too Raina appeared to write a small diary and send it to him Mrs Hamilton reported the results from the training exercises she developed while watching him
Donny just sent small reports on threats that they had dealt with that day There was even one from Bert the aged turtle that was simply Don’t slack off But perhaps the most adorable were the messages from Kiersty who with frequent misspellings excitedly described how Arbor was expanding and how much his plants missed him