The Elder Lands

“What is it you need to show me?” his father asked, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice. He eyed Lucan as if he’d committed a crime and had been hiding it.

Lucan raised his hands defensively. That was the look his father gave him before discovering and reprimanding him for misconduct. He didn’t want a good occasion perceived as a bad one before he’d even made its elements clear. “It’s something good, father.”

His father crossed his arms, having sheathed his sword. “Well?”

Lucan decided to do something bold. He leveled his sword at his father, who raised a brow with dark amusement, then activated the Star Dance. He felt the star come into being around him, only perceivable by his mind, and he chose the point of the star closest to his father. His leap forward was faster than anything his normal capabilities could have allowed him, and it came with no indication of movement before it happened, not a twitch of a muscle, not a bend of knees, and not the forward-leaning of weight needed to aid momentum. The skill provided a bounce of energy all on its own to assist his movement once he commanded it.

His father’s eyes widened as he witnessed Lucan’s instant leap and the blade pointed at his chest. Lucan had chosen to go for the chest instead of the more threatening throat. No need to get too bold. This wasn’t even a spar. It was a demonstration

Still staring with disbelieving eyes, his father asked, “was that a skill, Lucan?” His crossed arms freed themselves as he leaned forward with the question, ignoring the sword that was a finger’s width from his chest.

Lucan nodded, failing to restrain his glee. “Yes, father,” he said, proud.

“When…” his father said, tight confusion apparent on his countenance. “Where did you get it?”

“The book,” Lucan said.

“The one from the wandering collector,” Lucan added.

“Ah…” his father, still a bit disbelieving. “The charlatan?”

“I think,” Lucan gestured at himself, “this is enough proof that he wasn’t, father.”

His father nodded with rare accommodation. “Yes, yes. Describe it,” he commanded.

Lucan described the skill, its nature as a Hybrid, what it did, and what he knew to be its limitations. Yet that didn’t seem to satisfy his father.

“Is that all you know?”

“Yes, father.”

“How long does it take for it to stop working,” his father asked, crossing his arms again.

“Uhm.” Lucan gulped. “I’m not certain.” He looked around himself as though he could see it. The Star had ceased to exist as they talked. It didn’t stay for too long, it seemed.

His father shook his head. “And how far can you get from this Star before it ceases to be?”

Lucan bit his lip, taking in a bit of shame. He hadn’t had much time to test it.

“And with only one level,” his father continued, nodding at Lucan’s attacking stance. “You’ve already wasted your chance at further testing today.”

A moment of silence passed between them, adding to Lucan’s ungainly complexion. He cleared his throat to fill the emptiness, as though asking for permission to speak. “I was hoping to use the Vital Orb on it, father.”

His father sighed, a long, tired expulsion of breath. “You have done well, Lucan.” He stepped forward as Lucan lowered his sword, patting him on the shoulder. “It was fortunate that you got the book, but you should have told me once you got the skill. A movement skill complements what you already have very well. I’m happy for you, son, but you must always plan when it comes to your Elder Blessing. Excitement alone won’t make you formidable.”

“Yes, father,” Lucan said obediently.

“Being a Hybrid skill, I doubt you will be able to improve it too much through use,” his father said. “It might be worth using a Vital Orb, at least this early. It could save your life, or grant you the enemy’s.”

Lucan nodded, glee returning to his face. A Hybrid was supposed to be a Passive skill with all the advantages and limitations of an Active one. Both types of skills could be improved through the use of the appropriate God’s Orbs, but finding those was like looking for a needle in a haystack. And said haystack would have to be made of Herald beasts. There was only so much luck one could wish for.

To meet a beast that used Wraith Strike, for instance, would be nothing short of a miracle for Lucan. He would already be massively fortunate to come across someone auctioning off an Orb with said skill, after all.

The more common approach to improving skills came with its own set of known rules. A Passive could only be improved by ‘potent’ use of the skill, meaning that training alone would rarely provide said improvement after a certain point. An Active, on the other hand, required Vital Orbs to improve, with the costs increasing at each stage of the skill. One couldn’t improve Active skills through use, not that it would have been easy with the limited uses per day.

Unfortunately, with the drawback of Active skills being the limited use based on skill level, a Hybrid skill’s Passive nature was severely crippled. Lucan would have to rely heavily on Vital Orbs to improve it and hopefully use it fruitfully in combat.

“Very well,” his father said, approving his request. “Get on with it.”

Lucan couldn’t hold back the grin as he called up his Elder Power and used his final Vital Orb on the Star Dance.

Race: Human

Level: 1

Vital Orbs: 0

Mind and Body

Physique: Copper II 0/3

Spirit: Basic 0/1

Skills (0) 0/100

(Passive) Swordsmanship lv20: Apprentice

(Hybrid) 7-Point Star Dance lv2: Novice (0/1)

(Active) Wraith Strike lv2: Novice (0/1)

With the second level in the skill, he could use it one more time today, hopefully learning what his father wanted him to learn about it. “It’s done, Father.”

His father nodded. “Use it and show me how fast you can move between these points. Move between any three of them. Don’t waste any time.”

Lucan obeyed, stepping away from his father to give himself some space. He activated the skill and chose three points in quick succession, leaping between them at liberating speeds. He noted that after his third successive leap, his body began to strain, and he wondered whether the more advanced stages of the skill would require a better Physique or otherwise be limited in application. He turned to speak his pondering out loud to his father but he interrupted him.

“Don’t waste time speaking. Return to the middle of the Star and then walk out of it and see if it stays.”

Lucan did as he was told and found to his chagrin that the Star disappeared as soon as he walked out of its bounds. So he was trapped in its borders as long as he wanted to make use of it. It would have been more convenient if it allowed him to return to its bounds after stepping out.

“Now you may talk,” his father said after Lucan informed him that the skill had disappeared.

Lucan told him about the silent question he’d had on his mind.

“It’s only natural,” his father said. “The skill is intense in its use of the body. You will have limitations if you don’t improve your Physique to match it. Yet I doubt that will be an issue for you, unless I haven’t taught you well enough.” He gave him a look.

“You have, father,” Lucan quickly said. He knew where most of his early Vital Orbs would be going. Physique. It wasn’t negotiable with his father. According to him, you could erect as many spires as you wanted, but a storm would flatten them like stalks of wheat without the proper foundation. The same applied to your Elder Blessing.

Lucan actually agreed, or at least the books he’d read on the matter agreed. If one was a combatant, their foremost goal had to be to get to the height of the Iron Physique, and so most resources would have to go to that pursuit, and only a minority of it to others.

“There’s not much else for us to do today,” his father said. “Continue your daily training and then join me in the study. Tomorrow we continue our skill training before you go to Sir Wolfe’s aid.”

“Yes, father.”

And so Lucan settled into a brief pattern in the next few days. He would train his skills with his father, getting more familiar with their uses and limitations. His father had him even begin to acclimate to the time it took for both skills’ cessation after activation, so that he wouldn’t be cripplingly surprised in the middle of combat while using them.

Unlike in the past, Lucan took to the training with gusto. This time he knew that soon he would be seeing real combat, against real beasts. He had never seen written accounts of easy first encounters, unless the writer was an observer. Lucan intended to be as ready as he could be.