novelraw Chapter 6-7
Chapter 6-7
A cyborg’s mechanical parts are almost universally stronger and more durable than its flesh. They are also immune to most typical toxins, though strong acids and some magical toxins may still prove effective.
These changes are not one-sided advantages, however. Most critically, traditional healing Spells have little to no effect on a cyborg’s mechanical components. This is the primary reason why relatively few cyborgs take up combat roles. It is also common for those who are corrupted into cyborg form to seek early retirement or safer duties away from direct combat.
Given sufficient time, most cyborgs can self-repair almost any non-fatal damage to their mechanical components. The problem is that recovery time is massively extended compared to a healing Spell. When damaged, a mechanical limb transforms from a powerful asset into a weighty burden that cripples combat effectiveness and even compromises the ability to retreat swiftly.
- Bonnie, Level 41 Beastmaster, Bonnie’s Bestiary
As we chatted over the Comms while waiting for the cleanup crews to finish, I learned that half of our Squad had Leveled from the battle. The orcs had reached Level 4 and so had Jayce. Tara had reached Level 3, which meant she was finally able to select a Taunt Skill.
The version she ended up with was called Roar, and it was exactly what it sounded like. Heh, I love sound-themed jokes. Or maybe I’m just not very creative…
Either way, the Skill would be invaluable for crowd control in the future. The only downside was that it could accidentally attract monsters from far away due to the amount of noise it made. Though with Arlo, Jayce, and me in the Squad, we’d either be attracting or scaring off everything within earshot anyway.
I assumed the rest of us were close to our next Levels as well, after that huge amount of Essence we’d earned. Now that I had a moment to think, however, I recalled the strange feeling I’d gotten from it this time.
“PAST, why did the Essence I got feel different this time?”
[That was because you were paying off Essence debt, Gunner!]
“Uh, what in the Wastes is that?”
[When you kill a creature I generously and immediately send you the amount of Essence you would ultimately receive for their permanent death! However, when a creature is revived, their Essence stays with them, and thus, you are left with an Essence debt to me! This debt is taken out of any subsequent Essence you receive, until it is paid in full!]
“What? You’re saying that Yuri got his Essence back, so I didn’t get the Essence from this fight that I should have? How is that fair!?”
[The rules apply to everyone, Gunner! Therefore it is a tautology that they are fair!]
“But you’re saying I got nothing in the end for killing Yuri, because he was brought back?!”
[Incorrect, Citizen! You received an advance of the amount of his Essence, which was applied to your advancement just like any other! In addition, should Yuri Kalmár permanently perish before you, you will receive that same amount of Essence from his death, no matter where you are at the time! As you can see, quite a fair deal!]
“Uh huh. Sure. So, what makes a person permanently dead anyway?”
[A person, or creature, is considered permanently deceased once 24 hours have passed since their health reached 0, unless they are revived first!]
“I thought Healers had to get to someone way sooner than that to revive them?”
[Every Skill has its limits, Gunner!]
“Sure, whatever. What happens to someone while they’re dead, anyway?”
[Invalid query! Please rephrase your question, Gunner!]
It was dark before the last of the bodies had been burned, and Mages were throwing up Light Spells so that everyone could see. The group started moving back to the Academy shortly after the corpses had been reduced to ash. We had to wait a bit first, to make sure the fire didn’t spread accidentally. There wasn’t much around to burn anyway.
Lydia returned shortly after we started walking and was able to heal our ribs. She didn’t take away the pain, but at least intellectually I knew that I wasn’t injured any longer. It didn’t really help whenever I accidentally breathed too deeply though.
Fortunately, there were plenty of others who were in the same situation, so the group as a whole was moving at a slow walk. I didn’t see anyone being carried, so I assumed the Healers had been a little more generous with their mana for anyone who was in so much pain they couldn’t walk. We made it back to the Academy without any issues, and I noticed there were more guards on the wall than usual.
The orcs were, unsurprisingly, eager to celebrate our victory with drinks at the bar – but many of the others had the same idea. I convinced them that we could celebrate tomorrow night instead, and we’d be able to sleep in on Sunday. According to Wolf, we’d have classes as usual tomorrow, even after the battle. The only change was that instead of having PT2 in the afternoon, we’d meet with him and he’d tell us what he’d seen in the fight that we needed to work on.
I even managed to remember the item that I’d earned – without a reminder from PAST. The item was sadly disappointing. It was a small portable mana lamp, with a flat base and a hook on the top for hanging, and it had its own small mana crystal in the base which could hold a few points of mana. Certainly I could see it having some uses when camping, but it wasn’t going to help me win any fights.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on NovelBin. Report any occurrences.
“PAST, what is this!? I don’t need a mana lamp! I want mods, weapons, armor components – Spell gems if you’re feeling generous!”
[I am not responsible for the contents of any item rewards, Citizen! That is an entirely separate operation over which I have no control! Would you like to file a complaint?!]
“What? Yes, I definitely want to file a complaint!”
[Complaint filed, Citizen! Your issue number is 4,294,967,295! You are number 4,294,967,295 in line and will be contacted when it is your turn!]
“PAST,” I said slowly, “I think I want to file a complaint about your complaint process!”
[Complaint filed, Citizen! Your issue number is 4,294,967,295! You are number 4,294,967,295 in line and will be contacted when it is your turn!]
“Uh-huh.”
The mood among the rookie students was noticeably brighter on Saturday than the few days before. Not that the dislike – hatred was more accurate – between Yuri’s team and mine was forgotten, but everyone was still feeling good about the battle the day before. No one had died, though a few people had sustained serious wounds that the Healers had taken care of.
Quite a few people had Leveled, and I was sure others had received much more exciting items than my lamp. There were a lot of smiles on people’s faces as they tried out new Skills – I guessed those were people who’d just hit Level 3, unless someone had caught up with my Level 5.
Clarice and Marta managed to bring down my own mood a bit with their usual snarky remarks, but in Melee Combat I trounced Marta again. I’d decided to try and hold back my superior Stats when sparring with the others so I could improve my skills. With the obnoxious trainee I went all-out, and the gap in Strength was notable.
My barrier also was much stronger than the Archer’s, and I was slowly learning to trust it to protect me. When I’d trained in Sunland before the Tutorial, any touch during sparring counted as a point. Now, I could let an attack through in order to exploit my opponent's defenses – as long as I paid close attention to my barrier. It was always uncomfortable taking hard strikes to my barrier, but the pain was nothing compared to the training with Trite.
Working with Alex and Arlo was much more fun. Neither of them was a match for me with a blade, but they actually wanted to learn and were willing to work together to improve. Alex was really putting in the effort to get better, always eager to go another round or drill specific strikes over and over.
When the time rolled around for our normal PT2 class, we found all of the instructors gathered and waiting for us. Since the second semester students were using the classrooms, we ended up in a booth at the bar with Wolf’s privacy ward on.
“Generally, you did well,” he started off, sipping his beer. We’d been relegated to water, despite H’ruk’s complaints. “You all lived, thanks to G’hala’s healing Skill. That was quite impressive, by the way, considering it looked like H’ruk’s chest was crushed almost to his spine on the right side.
“However, it was obvious when she used it that the rest of you weren’t prepared for the pain. Honestly, I don’t think there’s an easy solution for that, though maybe G’hala should be the first healer for Az the next time she trains with Trite.”
Everyone’s faces paled at that. I didn’t want to put my teammates through the pain I took in that arena, even if it wouldn’t be as bad for everyone else…
“Sir, my Skill has a very long cooldown – 25 minutes at my current Level. I would only be able to use it on Az once.”
“Better than nothing,” Wolf replied. “We’ll try it tomorrow then.”
“Wait a minute, I haven’t agreed to do that training again!” I objected. “Well, I think I will eventually, but not tomorrow. I think for now I’m better off focusing on getting ready for a duel with Yuri. We all know that’s coming as soon as it’s allowed!”
“True. You want to practice for that tomorrow then?”
The Ranger waited for me to nod in agreement before continuing.
“Fine. We’ll talk more about that later. Back to the fight yesterday. Let’s talk about your tactics. Az, why didn’t you have Zaire put up more Earth Walls?”
“I didn’t think it would be useful if only some of us were behind a wall. What if our melee fighters needed to fall back? They’d have to jump over it, which would slow them down.”
Wolf frowned. “That’s really a minor point, Az. His walls are only four feet high, not much of an obstacle for your team – but a much higher one for a goblin.”
“Are you saying we should have used them?”
“No, you made a reasonable call, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Does anyone have a better idea why walls weren’t necessarily appropriate for that fight? Or, alternatively, how you could have used them effectively?”
We were collectively stumped for a minute.
Wolf sighed. “What was your objective as a team?”
“The Quest was to eliminate all of the enemies, Instructor Wolf,” Zaire stated.
“That was the overall objective of the entire force, Zaire. What about your team’s objective?”
“It was to hold a certain area of ground,” Jayce said thoughtfully in their buzzing voice.
“Exactly. Let’s say Zaire had put up enough walls to cover your assigned area. What would have happened?”
“The enemies might have tried to go around the walls,” H’ruk commented, and Wolf pointed a finger at him approvingly.
“Yes! And what would the result of that have been?”
I put it together finally. “The teams on either side of us might have been overwhelmed, even if we benefited.”
“Correct. That’s assuming you did the obvious thing, and just put walls facing straight ahead. What else could you have done?”
Raylan was the first to answer this time. “We could have put them at an angle, on either side of our area, leaving a gap in the middle. It would have funneled the goblins into a smaller area for us to defend, made it harder for so many of them to attack us at once.”
“Good! That would have been the ideal option if you decided to use them. A few goblins might have still tried to go around to the sides, but likely most of them would have headed for the opening in the center. What else could you have done with Wall?”
Several other ideas were raised and rejected before Zaire finally understood what Wolf was hinting at.
“I could have cast a Wall using another element, Instructor Wolf,” he said, and my eyes widened. Shit, that might have been a great chance to try out Fire Wall! Well, as soon as I get my focus from Esther! That would have ruined their day!
“Yes, Earth Wall is great for protection, but other elements can serve an offensive role, particularly against large numbers of enemies. If they’re packed tightly enough, the rear ranks will crash into the ones ahead of them and actually force them into the flames. It can be very effective.”
“I have been trying to master Bolt before I learned to conjure another element,” Zaire said. “Should I change my focus?”
“The order is up to you, but I strongly suggest picking something that works offensively with Wall. Especially since your team has no other area attacks yet. Wall has a lot of limitations, but it can damage multiple enemies when used correctly.”
“I understand, Instructor Wolf, I will rectify this shortcoming immediately.”