Chapter 110 (1/2)

Lyra watched Randidly carefully as he went through the second exercise, this one focused on weapon accuracy and eyesight. It was an extremely large mobile, with dozens of small wooden disks hanging from it. The disks were numbered 1 through 60. Randidly’s task was simple; hit them with his spear in order, within a certain amount of time. Complications emerged as Randidly had to hit them while they rotated slowly around him, and also while the disks themselves spun, sometimes hiding their numbers from him, as they were only written on one side.

But despite this, his spear blurred, his expression determined, the soft click of wood evidencing his success. Although, most of it was due to the fact he appeared to have memorized where the first 30 or so were. They would need to rearrange where they were hanging soon.

With his eyes narrowed, his mouth firmed into a line, he seemed extremely capable, and Lyra couldn’t help but feel a bit of that old longing for his approval, an acknowledgement from him. Still, it was different now, without the strange magic that the system had worked on them, drawing them closer to one another.

Unfortunately, the exercise that Lyra had administered had gone rather poorly. Mrs. Hamilton had insisted that she keep a steady number of birds, and keep them at a steady speed, to use as a baseline. Therefore, although Randidly was forced to dodge back and forth, and he was clearly out of breath by the end, it wasn’t the embarrassing performance that Lyra had assumed would happen in her heart.

The weight was obviously having an effect on him, but it wasn’t enough; his skills still let him move with an unnatural grace, avoiding her swarming birds. If she had been allowed to make them move just a little faster….

But Lyra had learned very early on in her life that playing outside the rules didn’t pay off in the end. It was much more satisfying to beat him at the game than cheat.

“How smart are you?”

Lyra blinked, turning to look at Mrs. Hamilton, who was regarding her speculatively. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean in a bad way. Just I have some thoughts about the dodging exercise, and I just need to know how much complexity you can handle.”

Frowning, Lyra said. “...as much as you can give. I can use more birds-”

“No, that’s unnecessary,” Mrs. Hamilton said, shaking her head. “Just like he’s training, consider this training for you too. The problem isn’t the number of birds, although the problem might solve itself with more birds. Just like Randidly would still be strong just by increasing his stats to the point his skill levels don’t matter. Maybe even by getting a class. But do you know why he doesn’t do that?”

Inwardly, Lyra was torn between feeling annoyed and feeling intrigued. She had always known that Mrs. Hamilton had expertly handled the NCC village, and basically managed housing, production, potion making, food, and clothing distribution, but that had always struck Lyra as slightly dull. But now, as Mrs. Hamilton coldly looked her in the eye, a small smile on her face, Lyra abruptly remembered that Randidly had given this woman a very sinister sounding class.

So she suppressed her annoyance, and like any good actor, allowed the emotion the audience wanted to see come to the surface. Curious, Lyra said. “Because our Randidly’s normal face hides a perfectionist. He wants every advantage he can have.”

“...Yes, in a way. He takes the extremely long view. Based on his actions, he seems to think that an impending crisis is just beyond the horizon…” Pausing, Mrs. Hamilton turned and looked back towards the village. She stood still for so long that Lyra thought she would have to speak, but just as she was about to, Mrs. Hamilton turned back, shaking her head.

“...Well, if something bad happens, I’m sure someone else will notice. Anyways, the reason Randidly can dodge is because when you attack with the birds, you are only moving 2 or 3 at the same time. The rest just drift in a direction. I suggest instead of attacking, you work on making several smaller units, and just move them around. Namely, 3 rings of 4 birds, moving in a circle. Go on, try it.”

Lyra did, making the 3 circles. She furrowed her brow, and was able to swiftly get the hang of it. Honestly, once you had them set, it was relatively easy, and she was able to tie the mana together in such a way that it didn’t take much attention.

“Good. Now, I’m going to switch up the disks and have Randidly try this exercise again from the beginning. In the meantime, try and master 3 things; moving the rings, with the birds staying in formation, widening and tightening the rings, and reversing the flow of the birds. Once you can manage those three things, we will see how easy it is for Randidly to dodge.”

*****

Alana sat with her legs folded beneath her, contemplating. It was a simple thing, but it was a question that had tortured her endlessly: should she get her very rare sounding class, or should she continue to train.

It was now widespread knowledge that a certain amount of skill levels, quite a bit over 400, without getting a class would lead to a strange “Aether Starvation”, but the Ghosthound had made some cryptic comments to her the previous night that would seem to indicate that she didn’t have to worry about this issue, and could continue to train for as long as she wished.

Based on what she could tease out of his statements, and other explanations of the problem, it seemed that her connection to him provided her with the Aether she needed. Of the other 3 who received the blessing, Annie had continued to train without a class, Sam had obtained his class immediately, delighting in the new skills he received that would boost his crafting efficiency, and Mrs. Hamilton would only smile sweetly when asked, refusing to answer.

Those three’s answer was very demonstrative of their personalities, but Alana was at a loss. Was seeking the strength of the class now a mistake…? She knew that every 10 levels, the Classers would receive an extremely powerful class skill. Alana had heard rumors about how Decklan’s Killer’s Instincts, Donny’s Righteous Bonds, and Dozer’s Troll Constitution had made all the difference in the fight against the Ghosthound. Although two of them were passive skills, and Donny’s was defensive, they still were profoundly apparent in battle, and likely won the day of the squads of Donnyton.

They assured her, however, that there was no rush. It was just incredibly frustrating to be weaker than them, and Alana knew it was only because they had access to levels…!

Alana looked at her stats.

Alana Donal

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health(/R per hour): 192/192 (83)

Mana(/R per hour): 74/74 (21)

Stam(/R per min): 103/127 (26)

Vit: 21

End: 19

Str: 24

Agi: 23