Rejection May resist compulsions geas foreign influences healing status ailments and other unnatural states Likelihood of success depends on skill level
Randidly smiled wryly An old remnant of his time with the King Constance huh Well the Willpower and Resistance would help him so he didn’t mind it And although this current skill seemed unreliable it did seem broadly applicable which would probably help
With his few extra PP he put them into the Grace I Path That would likely give him a positive return based how he felt it improving every aspect of how he moved
Once more Randidly lost himself in the training Time passed slowly as his body his mind and his spirit were brutalized day after day Slowly but surely Randidly felt himself growing less angry more grounded He almost seemed to enjoy the abuse throwing himself into it with wild abandoned Shal pressed him harder and harder as they slowly made progress into the Northeast area fighting constantly Marco would destroy Randidly’s stance with easy shattering his confidence
Then he would read words left by a spear user sure but two dozen or so years ago and he would almost pass out every time he tried to read that first line on the fifth page It was depressing
But there was progress He pressed and pressed and he was able to gaze for longer and longer on the back of Death before it paused as if it noticed him and then slowly turned forcing him out of his focus
Knowing that Shal secretly observed the process Randidly refused to give up Shal’s relationship with his father was clearly complex and Randidly understood that He hated his own father Hated him with every ounce of his being But somehow he knew that if his father had left him a job he would have dutifully completed it This was that same thing for Shal he would look for an heir for his father’s legacy even though Shal wanted no part of it
But that didn’t mean Shal wanted it to die And so Randidly continued to try slowly moving forward word by word
The second anniversary of their arrival in the badlands came and went and Randidly’s eyes were slightly glassy worn to the edge of sanity But still he pushed Everyday and those days he found himself slightly improving Randidly pushed harder seeking not just improvement but results
And the amount of sentences he could read slowly grew one word at a time Soon he could make it through half of the page without being forced away Then 3/4s then 4/5s slowly approaching the complete picture for the move that Shal could not master
The Phantom’s Embrace
Shal looked at the fire brooding Marco Polo sat next to them as his disciple once more tried to read the diary There had been progress Significant progress But while a lot of it was in his disciple’s spear skill the scariest part was the things that were hard to quantify
Randidly’s recovery speed His work ethic The viciousness with which he wielded a spear His spells his tactics in a fight
His stance his Battle Intent
His disciple’s personality too was slowly changing under the incredible pressure that he had handled for the past two years Becoming more centered around gallows humor more sardonic pessimistic Randidly had always been reserved and this Shal appreciated but it was growing to an almost ridiculous degree The boy barely spoke a word if not directly asked a question He would just wait for the order of the day and then throw himself into it
This might be his limit Marco commented looking carefully at Shal
But Shal just nodded This was true His disciple was settling too much into life here and gaining bad habits through repetitions This was probably as close as they could come to getting him battle ready More skill levels would be useful but
But it will still take some time to leave Shal said aloud gazing up at the mountain on which the prison sat The preparations And ideally we would want another powerful individual one willing to offend and attack guards in order to cause a distraction
If you need a distraction like that I have an idea
Both Shal and Marco turned surprised Randidly stood there rubbing his chin his voice raspy and his eyes somewhat gaunt
Chapter 161
Helen looked around disgustedly at the boat Without the presence of the Ghosthound and his master’s Tassles hanging from the boat they basically encountered no trouble They simply drifted no longer progressing deeper into Qtal but also not drifting farther out
It was widely understood that although those two were no longer here it did not mean that they would not return So the circling vultures stopped challenging them but they didn’t stop watching them Which removed the only activity that Helen enjoyed from the daily routine of the boat After all the challengers were just starting to be around the Artisan level and Divveltian still managed to defeat them without getting up from his seated position It was inspiring
Meanwhile both Helen and the male spear attendant continued to train It was almost infuriating to train next to that idiot because he seemed to be filled with an almost erotic fixation with training ever since he had been sent flying in that strange energy incident Sure he seemed to have developed a move but it was fucking weird that such a painful event in his past now seemed to animate him Being knocked out and cartwheeling through the air finally landing in the river did not seem fun to Helen
Although perhaps that was just the kind of sicko that the male spear attendant was He liked that everyone was too busy paying attention to the Ghosthound to even remember to fish him out of the river So the near drowning was pleasurable
Sighing and shaking her head Helen wondered how she had landed among such weird company They definitely weren’t her typical crowd
At first it was enjoyable but now Helen wanted just ONE of these male idiots to take an extra second to gaze at her face or to catch one of them dipping their eyes downward for a quick peek at her assets But they didn’t Not one of them seemed to care that she was a woman
Fucking prude ass bitches She muttered gazing out at the water But then she turned because something strange happened Divveltian stood
We must go He said seriously and she found herself nodding quickly right along with the male spear attendant and immediately rushing to get her things Because even if she was unsatisfied with the conditions she would still follow them
She had made an oath But more importantly they were strong In this world that was the ultimate draw
They snuck away leaving their boat without a single Tassle ghosting out of the city of Qtal across the decks of other ships Then they trekked across the countryside and Helen muttered furiously to herself the entire time wondering where they were going why they were going there and why fucking Divveltian set such a ridiculous pace
She realized that some of it was heard by her two companions but they simply ignored it The male spear attendant because he seemed to fear her which was the correct response in her mind and Divveltian because it seemed to amuse him which only irritated her further But there was really nothing she could do but follow
They traveled quickly going through the short road to Tomkat They encountered bandits twice but Divveltian simply had to look and was able to send most of them packing Their cross country run continued and several hours later they arrived in Tomkat
It was a smaller city than Qtal but only a little yet it was a city with a much higher average strength of person Whereas Qtal was a city filled with large families of poor and struggling Styles Tomkat was an austere mountain city filled with highly trained spear users Although there was no one at the Pontiff level Adepts were much more commonly seen in Tomkat usually passing through on their way either to or from the Central Region from the capital of the Northern Region
Rumor had it that the First Spear of Tomkat was a top level Adept very close to breaking through to the Pontiff level Even spear users at the level of Artisan would be tempted by the opportunity to train under such a figure