P68- Host (2/2)

And they did. “How many levels can we gain like this?”

“I don’t know. Depends on the system.”

“I was wondering, why doesn’t the gods just give us all our levels from the start. Then we don’t have to struggle like this.” Harris watched, and asked Meela.

“I don’t know that too, you can ask them the next time you see them. I guess it’s some restriction on the gods, that anyone new starts from level 1.”

The heroes practiced a few times, the two girls were visibly outclassed, even with their overpowered abilities, but with each battle, they improved, very quickly.

According to Alexis, it’s a gift. Heroes, when they start out, have a special blessing, on top of their overpowered ability. I don’t recall seeing these blessings in their soul spring, but then again, maybe I’m not able to see divine items. The blessings do a whole lot of things, like improve their rate of experience gain, the ability to choose the ‘direction’ of the skill growth, meaning heroes can actually select what kind of skills they want to learn, a natural affinity to combat, enhanced recovery rates.

And, there’s usually a few ‘gates’, which unlocks star mana at different amounts. At level 100, that’s when their entire mana pool is converted into star mana, which means, they have way more star mana than I have. Like.... easily 10 to 50 times more.

Meela then brought the three heroes to one of the Order’s militia practice yards. And where the soldiers practice. SImilarly, they also had a few spars.

“Why are you bringing them to all these places?” I mentally asked Meela.

“Yeah. They can gain levels from practice, and it’s a safe way to gain these early levels. I’ll ask Jura for permission to include them in a few patrol missions, so they can fight some demons. I’ll send my [bodyguard] with them, just to be safe.”

Well, more spars. Meela then led them back to the hotel to rest, and the next day, they were at the [Training Rooms].

“We’re fighting Lausanne?” The three looked surprised.

“Yeah. I asked whether she’s willing to spar, and she said sure.”

“Does she know?”

“Nope. It’s my first time watching Lausanne in action too.” Meela smiled.

“Uh... I don’t think we can take her alone. Unless she’s fighting handicapped.” Becky said, and Lausanne obviously heard it.

“I won’t be using my familiar. Don’t worry. And we’re just using wooden swords.”

“But you whooped the demons with those wooden swords!” Harris seemed visibly panicked.

Meela clapped. “Oh come on. Just fight. If you can’t face Lausanne, you’ll have trouble facing demon walkers and the demon generals.” Meela’s pep talk worked, and they started to spar.

Indeed, they’ve seemed to have gained levels from yesterday’s spar, and their performance was much better than before. But, the heroes aren’t good at ‘sparring’, in the sense that they can’t seem to control their powers. It’s 100% on all the time, so, Mirei accidentally loosed a lightning blast and it hit the Training Room walls. Thankfully, no damage. The training room is exceptionally sturdy.

Still, as one who watched their fights yesterday and today, their progress is unnatural. It’s like there’s a genius that guided their growth, they instinctively knew what to do to improve. For now, Lausanne’s still better, but I would think within a month they would be able to stand toe-to-toe with her, without her familiar powers.

All of them took turns to spar over the course of the next week, and for Lausanne, who’s usual sparring partners are Yvon and Jura, this was a welcome change. In fact, Lausanne had her first loss on their last day. Their exceptional growth was very humbling for Lausanne, even if it was just a sparring match without Lausanne’s full skillset.

After the week was over, and their ‘time’ was up, Lausanne came back to me. “TreeTree, who are those people? They... they make me feel like I’m stupid.”

“Why?”

“I mean... I took so many years of practice to get to this point, but they just got from newbies to be able to do that in a week.”

Well, it’s all relative, isn’t it? To the other Valthorns, Lausanne’s an exceptional fighter. But as with all things, there is always a higher mountain out there.

“They’re the gifted ones, blessed by the gods themselves. Don’t hold onto your defeat too hard.”

“Are they heroes?”

“I think so.” I know the truth, but I’m not sure whether I should tell her.

Lausanne paused. She’s in my [secret hideout], her home. She sat in bed, and looked at the wooden spear next to her bed. “Is this what heroes need to be able to do? I suddenly feel like... I’m not good enough.”

Hmm. She’s 14, and feeling demotivated and discouraged? Should I inject her with some [psychedelic dreams]? Is this puberty? Or teen angst? Should I give her a pep talk? Or should I ask Laufen to do it? Maybe I should ask her mom to talk to her first.

And indeed, Laufen came into her room and sat next to her bed.

“Hi darling.” Laufen smiled, and patted her leg. “I heard you lost.”

“Losing’s fine. But it’s just that... I don’t know... erm... facing genius.”

Laufen moved herself a little closer. “Every now and then the gods create people who are so exceptionally good, that they blow the rest of us out of the water. There are those born with a [unique ability] or [unique skill] since birth. These are champions.”

“I want to be a hero, mom. I just feel like... suddenly... that dream feels very very far away.”

“It’s okay.” Laufen gave her daughter a hug. I felt a bit guilty spying, but then again, I do want to check on Lausanne’s mental state. “It’s a privilege, that you could even attempt to dream such a dream. I wouldn’t have dreamed of what we have today, my dear.”

“Mom. That’s not helping.” Lausanne still sulked.

Laufen just hugged. “Think of it as a challenge, then. No great things are achieved without great obstacles.”

“But then why the heroes get such great powers?”

“They have the burden of defeating the demon king. Would you want that burden?”

Lausanne sulked.

Year 83 Month 3

The heroes, annoyingly, made Meela’s Oakwood Hotel their base of operations. At least, they are now participating in the Order’s patrols, and are helping to defeat demons that they encounter, and within a month, they have gained about 30 levels, so they are now about level 35 to 40 and seemed to have unlocked their first quarter of [star mana].

This means they can now stand toe-to-toe with multiple demon knights, just like Lausanne. What seemed crazy to them a month ago, is now something they can do.

“The first 50 levels are easy.” Alexis explained. “We got it within a month too. It’s the grind up to level 100 that took a whole lot longer, and past level 80, we only seemed to gain levels when we fought champion-level monsters.”

“Good thing is, I think they will leave New Freeka soon.” Meela, their de-facto ‘nanny’, said. “Thanks TreeTree. I’m happy to have helped them get on their feet. After this, they must find other places to go, other monsters to fight. I told them about the demon walkers, and that they need to start attempting to fight them.”

“Can they? I would recommend level 50 before trying the walker. At least they get their 2nd quarter of the [star mana].”

It’s mostly a conversation between Alexis and Meela, both of whom have differing views of what’s the ‘optimal’ strategy for heroes.

“At the rate they are going, they will encounter demons and level up along the way. And all of them has summoned units. I think the gods gave them all a mini-army like ability.”

I didn’t watch their battles, especially those that happened with the patrols. So this really piqued my attention. “Explain.”

“Yeah. Harris has a defense aura, and can summon ‘living armors, with massive shields’. Mirei has lightning elementals, and thunderstorm rods. Becky has like... an squadron of magical knights.”

This means something. Did the gods intentionally delay the summoning of the heroes, so that they know what they are facing? And then, they ‘tailor’ the gifts to the heroes based on what they see the demons are doing?

What if the demons know this too? I didn’t see how the previous heroes’ abilities were tailored to the demon king at all. Or it’s just a coincidence, that this roster of abilities lean towards the heroes being a ‘one-man-army’?

In any case, after a week or more of fighting, the 3 heroes eventually decided to make a move for the next town. As advised by Meela, they are going to head south, towards the ‘stationary’ walker.

-

The heroes took one of the beetles to head south.

A magical ball appeared in front of them.

“Hi guys. Everyone alive?” A voice came out of the ball.

The 3 heroes jumped, but then nodded. “Astra, is that you?”

“Yeah it’s me alright. Sorry it took so long. I had to reach my Level 30 perk to unlock the [Hero-Chat] communication ability. Everyone here?”

“Yup.” It seemed that they could see each other’s faces in the magical ball, but my ‘spirit vision’ is able to only see the presence of a pure-white magical orb, and not what’s on it. Kinda like an overexposed camera facing a television. It’s all white to me. But at least I could still ‘hear’ the message.

“Good. How’s everyone? I’ll start. We had a rough first month, we got ambushed by multiple demon groups, but luckily a group of knights helped us out. We’re based in one of the kingdom’s in the far south.”

“South?” Harris asked. “Isn’t the South in very bad shape?”

“Not gonna lie, it totally is, it is. The Southern Continents’ entire northern half was, and still is, lost to the demons, and the far-southern kingdoms, thankfully, through luck and some good strategies, managed to keep the demons away, however barely. The Kings are super relieved to see us. We’re trying to gain levels as fast as we can, and thankfully we met some locals who are very willing to help us.” This ‘Astra’ person explained.

“Your story sounds similar. We got saved by the locals too.” Another voice. “Totally not what I expected. If I see the gods again, I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind for dropping us in the middle of nowhere.”

Harris and Mirei nodded. “Yeah. We also got saved by the locals.”

“Hmm... we’re in the east, and we’re quite lucky. We didn’t see many demons, and we fought whatever we could. We’re now based in one of the towns. There are some helpful locals as well.”

“Ah shit. This skill drains my star mana faster than pokemon go does. My star mana is running out. Alright, we’ll catch up again once my star-mana recovers. Sorry!” Astra complained.

“It’s fine. Good to know everyone’s alive.” Someone said.

“Yeah.”

And the magical orb vanished. And the three of them shared glances, while still riding the beetle.

“That’s like... a skype group-video conference call.”

“Who uses skype these days?” Becky looked puzzled.

“My dad does.” Mirei shrugged. “For work.”

For me, this meant the hero's star mana is able to overcome the demon king’s magical interference.