40 Vol 1. pt. 40 Patch 7.0: Pirates and Scholars (2/2)

Serra is reluctant to hand Rock over to Thelmes for him to test her Fortitude. Even Rock is growling at the cat-goblin.

”Don't worry. I wouldn't throw a wrench at her, so I would never put her through what these two just felt,” Thelmes says.

”So wait, you have a way of testing Fortitude that doesn't feel like literal mind ****?” Fenrir normally wouldn't ever use ”****” to refer to anything, but it is the closest thing that he can think of to describe how it felt.

”Correct! It is the most accurate method, but we can also test via boons.”

Thelmes leads them back to the room with the slimy punching bag. After placing a boon on Rock, he has Rock bite into it ten times. ”The increase in damage is negligible, so her Fortitude is only three.”

”You could have told us about this test instead,” Cassiel says. Fenrir nods.

”Ah, well, next time you can request it!”

Neither of them is looking forward to a next time.

”Congratulations! The attributes portion is done. Now, are there any skills you would like to have tested?”

”You said only combat stuff, right? So there'd be no way to test anything like fishing skills?” Fenrir asks.

”Sorry, we have no way of testing for fishing skills. It may be possible someday, but for now, you may only test for combat skills recognized by our faction.”

”I have no idea what to even try testing then. Feel free to go first, Cass Cass.”

”Alright. I have a few in mind,” Cassiel says.

Thelmes leads them to a large gymnasium-like room – the one they tested Dexterity in. In the section of the room that they never went over to, there are golems, all manners of weapons, and other useful objects that could be used for combat tests.

Cassiel takes an iron spear off of the wall to use in addition to her sword. ”Activate that golem,” she points to one of the golems made of slime.

Thelmes walks over to it, places a hand on it, and activates it. The slime golem stands by waiting for something to react to.

Cassiel charges forward with the spear held in both of her hands. She thrusts it all the way through the slime golem's torso and then uses it to spring her self upward! Midair, she draws her sword and stabs it down into the golem's head as she falls.

It's just like what she did to the leader of garlic men, but with the weapons' roles reversed.

”Splendid! Is that the most advanced maneuver you can pull off?” Thelmes asks.

Cassiel looks pretty pleased with herself. ”Yeah, I think so. I learned it during our last battle. Felt the skill unlocked and everything,” she explains, wiping some sweat off of her forehead.

”Splendid, splendid. I do believe that would count as Combat Acrobatics, and a maneuver such as that should place you at the second tier for it. We believe—keep in mind that this is all theory—that Combat Acrobatics increases your Dexterity by a set percentage for each tier of the skill as well as multiplies damage inflicted during acrobatic attacks. Would you like it as one of your top three listed skills?”

”Sure.”

”Splendid! Anything else?”

Cassiel replaces her own sword with one of the ones from the wall. ”I want to test my skill with swords and then healing.”

”Wonderful, just let me measure the golem's remaining Health first.”

After checking on the golem, Thelmes gives her the go to attack it ten times with the practice sword.

She has to use the practice sword to accurately measure her ability with swords to make sure that nothing related to her personal sword affects the damage and test.

Thelmes measures the new damage done to the golem. ”Splendid! When calculating the damage done with your Strength and a sword that does not have any special modifiers… I believe that your Sword Proficiency is at tier three. Is that your weapon of choice?” Thelmes asks.

”Yeah, it is,” Cassiel answers. She sounds disappointed again. ”Tch, damn reset. I used to be up to tier seven.”

”Ah, that's a shame. I know it can take months of practice to reach such a high tier. Don't worry, I am sure you will get there again with enough practice! Oh, and go ahead with healing the golem now. Use your strongest healing spell and heal it for five seconds.”

Cassiel does as Thelmes requests. He measures its new Health afterward.

”Impressive! Your Healing Magic skill should be tier three. You must be using it frequently!”

”You… could say that,” Cassiel says, not daring to look over in Fenrir's direction.