Oath of the Survivor

Kyle gritted his teeth as the electricity coursed through him, nearly bringing him to his knees.  He ducked behind some rubble just as another bolt struck where he’d been standing, a peal of thunder ringing in his ears.  Does this even count as sparring?

After meeting with Tillienne, Kyle had agreed to meet with Jax Cain, who he’d learned was the young man he’d observed after the completion of Phase One.  Apparently Tillienne’s family had dealings with Cain Jewelers before, which was part of what inspired their connection.  She’d convinced him that he’d be a good partner to train with, and so the three of them had made their way to the Cain family training grounds.

Jax was young and handsome, his boyish features far clearer as Kyle spent time with him before their match.  He was earnest, smiled easily, and Kyle understood why people seemed drawn to him.  For others, the idea of trying to organize this type of training may have seemed ridiculous.  After all, who wanted to help potential competitors?  For Jax, extending the invitation just made sense.

The complex was effectively a dusty wasteland inside an enclosed dome, though the overall size was almost as large as Nierburg.  Jax had settled on Defend Position for Phase Three, which was what they were currently training for.  Kyle and Tillienne were trying to break through to his position, and he was doing his best to hold them back.  And his best was pretty damn good. 

The constant barrage of precise, long-range electric attacks was incredibly difficult to deal with, as STORM SHELTER would leave him a sitting duck when he dropped it.  That left Kyle and Tillienne dodging and weaving through rubble and stones to close in on the vantage that Jax had selected.  The fae woman was worse off than Kyle, lacking the ability to heal in the same way he did, though Kyle had a distinct impression that she was still holding back quite a bit.  Then and again, so was he.

Another bolt split the air, and Kyle could feel the heat as his hair stood on end, the strike barely missing his left ear.  While he didn’t want to get hit too much, Kyle found that the residual shock from the attacks made for a great opportunity to practice HEAL in conjunction with ADAPTIVE REGENERATION.  He felt his conceptual understanding of cellular regeneration improving, and was optimistic that the upgrade options he’d receive for HEAL would be impressive.

Tillienne took the opportunity provided by Kyle taking fire to dash closer to the young man, covering ground at an alarming rate as a boosting skill activated.  Kyle prepared to activate IGNITION to join in, but there was no need as the young man seemed to grow flustered, shifting focus and firing a sloppy shot that didn’t manage to get close to her. 

Scorched and smiling, Tillienne touched the bottom of the rock formation Jax had chosen as his defensible position.  She let out a quick laugh, then looked up at Jax while Kyle approached. “That was a good showing.  Your lightning magic is no joke!” 

Jax looked at his feet, a blush already rising in his cheeks.  “Uh, thanks.  It still wasn’t enough to keep you guys away though.  I have a lot to work on.”

[YOU WOULD DO WELL TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PRESENCE OF BOOSTING SKILLS, MR. CAIN.  FROM WHAT WE’VE EXPERIENCED, THEY ARE FAIRLY COMMON AMONG ELITE FIGHTERS.]

Jax nodded, not seeming bothered at all to be receiving feedback from Kyle’s backpack.  “Thanks, C.H.A.D.D.  I don’t have as much experience fighting against people like you two.” 

Tillienne looked at Kyle, and raised an eyebrow.  “Are you just going to stand there, or can I get some healing?”  Tossing a glance back at Jax, she quipped “And don’t feel bad about it, Jax.  There’s nobody else out there quite like me.”

Kyle and Jax shared a look as she laughed at her own comment, Kyle resting a hand on her top left shoulder as he activated HEAL.  The burns left by Jax’s lightning were tricky to mend, but Kyle had plenty of experience treating his own.  He focused his energy first on neutralizing any of the electric-affinity mana still flowing through Tillienne, and then on promoting cellular regrowth beneath the burned tissue. 

Her smile turned into a grimace of pain as the fresh skin grew.  Kyle’s Enhanced Carapace had prevented a lot of these issues, proving far quicker and easier to mend.  It was a qualitative aspect of his Adaptive Anatomy he didn’t reflect on often, but one that was incredibly useful.  It also drew him to reflect on his relationship with pain.  While Tillienne and Jax were both powerful D Grades in their own right, IDENTIFY had shown him just how little they’d invested into Endurance and Vitality. 

He couldn’t help but compare them to Duroc and Skippy, who had both seen real combat in the frontier, and how even Skippy had invested more than these two had.  He knew they both had powerful backers and guides along their paths, but he felt that their investment was still lacking.  While they each had powerful skills they could bring to bear, they didn’t have the durability for long, drawn-out engagements. 

Kyle knew he was a bit of a monster in that regard, and after his fight with Ger’Sinh he knew that he still had a long way to go.  The beastmaster had used a trump card beyond anything Kyle expected to see at D Grade, but that certainly didn’t mean it was the last time he’d encounter something like that.  If anything, it was a gauntlet that the universe had thrown down, challenging him to go even farther.

Satisfied the worst of the burns were healed, Kyle activated IDENTIFY once more to check for any irregularities.  Tillienne met his eyes as he did so, and he saw mana gently projecting out from her, reaching out towards both him and Jax.  Now it was Kyle’s turn to raise an eyebrow, to which she only smiled as her skill deactivated.  Kyle did the same. 

“You can’t blame a girl for getting curious about your identification skill, just wanted to see if I could pick up any more details on it.”

Jax, who seemed oblivious, looked to Kyle and Tillienne with surprise.  “You both have identification skills?  What’s it like to use them?” 

It turned out that Jax, while not having such a skill of his own, was deeply interested in the different types.  Kyle and Tillienne both spoke in general terms, not oversharing, but still giving their earnest host a good picture of how they perceived mana.  Kyle described his more as understanding the general flow and magnitude, while Tillienne described hers more as an instinctual measure of the people she met.  Jax was fascinated by both, and continued asking question after question until they made it to the training facility’s cafeteria.

“I’ve always hoped to get an identification skill, but it’s just never come up.” Jax complained between mouthfuls of food.  “It would be so nice to be able to see more of what people are doing, sometimes it feels like I’m fighting blind.”

Kyle was enjoying the taste of his own meal, which reminded him of fried rice mixed with battered meat.  After swallowing a particularly tasty bite, he met Jax’s eyes.  “The accuracy you had with the long-range lightning attacks was way too precise to be ‘fighting blind.’  Surely, you’ve got some sort of long-range Perception skill, right?”

Jax nodded, finishing his bite before responding.  “I do, but it isn’t all that exciting.  It was one of the earlier skills I picked up.”

Kyle shrugged.  “So, focus on it.  When it’s time to upgrade it, hopefully you’ll have a solid enough foundation in sensing mana to be offered an upgrade that’s in line with what you’re looking for.”

Jax and Tillienne just stared at him, and Kyle began to realize that maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.  Tillienne was the first to speak, her expression more serious than he’d seen it before.  “Kyle, that’s easier said than done.  If any of us even make it to a high enough level to get all the upgrades to our E Grade skills, taking skills into strange directions can have unintended consequences.”

Kyle had to admit, his curiosity was piqued.  Both of them were receiving guidance from their seniors, and were following proven paths to power.  The level of support that both received was a large part of why they’d been so set apart from their peers, after all.  Kyle wanted to hear more about their thoughts, but before that, something Tillienne said bothered him.  “What do you mean ‘if’ we make it to a high enough level?  Isn’t something like that a given for us?”

Jax and Tillienne shared a look, and this time it was the young man who responded.  “Middle D Grade is a bottleneck for a lot of people that get this far.  Fewer D Grades make it to C Grade than E Grades making it to D Grade.  Even working with the Guilds, it’s rare to get the kind of experiences that’ll push you to the higher echelons, even if you have the talent.”

Kyle folded his arms as he leaned back, taking in their words.  While he understood what they were saying, there was something inside him that bristled against the very notion of a bottleneck.  Neither Tillienne nor Jax had been through the kind of life-or-death struggles he had.  And with the essence of the riftwyrm flowing through him, Kyle expected his circumstances would be considered abnormal by any measure. 

“That may be so,” Kyle said, trying to offer some grace.  “Even if that’s the case, what would be wrong with steering your skill upgrade in a different direction?  If anything, wouldn’t fewer upgrades make it less of an issue?”

Jax shook his head, brushing dark strands of hair out of his eyes.  “First, the goal is still to keep advancing.  I can’t speak for Tillienne, but our family has invested a lot in the hopes I’ll make it to C Grade.  If that does happen, then a more well-defined upgrade path makes sense.

“You stop getting new skills at C Grade, and have to work on upgrades.  Information on upgrade paths at that level is rare and expensive, so we try to stay in the realm of what we know works.  If we deviated too far, and can’t upgrade any skills, advancement in C Grade stops entirely. 

“Besides that, at least for my family, having a level of consistency across our skills lets us work together more seamlessly.  It’s less about the individual degrees of power, and more about cohesion.”

Tillienne nodded in agreement at Jax’s explanation, serious expression still on her face.  “Kyle, has your backer seriously not talked with you about your skill development?  With how much they’ve probably invested in you…” 

Her voice trailed off, and Kyle suppressed the fire bubbling in his veins as the food he was chewing lost its flavor.  It was as if they were telling him that the path he’d walked to this point was somehow wrong, or lesser.  Kyle bristled at the notion.  He hadn’t gotten this far because he was following some sort of playbook, he’d fought to get where he was.  He paid for his strength in blood.  “No, and I prefer it that way.” 

A tense silence settled over the room like a blanket, which apparently was too much for C.H.A.D.D.

[WHAT IS THE NEXT EXERCISE?  I BELIEVE IT’S MISS TILLIENNE’S TURN, IS THAT CORRECT?]

Some of the tension left the room, and soon Tillienne’s smile returned.  “That it is, C.H.A.D.D.  I’ll be selecting the Arena Combat option.”  She met Kyle’s eyes as her smile deepened.  “And I’d like for you to be my first opponent, Kyle.  Let’s see if your assessment about being a bad matchup is correct.”