Chapter 523 (2/2)

“1 and 1 and 9,” Hank corrected, for the millionth time.

Kayle waved his hand airily. “The duel where you collapsed counted as a loss, not a draw. And also, the win was against Vandal. He’s just a kid. But you’ve recovered well, and you are much sharper now. Excited to head back into the borderlands, huh? We’ve finally been given orders to do a sweep through the edge of the Zone and find any more survivors. It will be good to move on from this Ghostice.”

Hank nodded slowly. It was time for their group to move on as well. They had stayed here two weeks already, first to allow him to recover from that close brush with a deadly Aether Starvation, and then to give Hank’s group the chance to fight with the locals, if they wished.

It was a summarily humiliating experience. Laurel had abstained, preferring to talk with the Zone 32 mages as to their training methods. But Affina, Ezekiel, and Hank when he recovered, all challenged the various members of the other expedition.

It quickly became apparent that there was a definite tier amongst the people, and between the two groups. At the bottom, there was the average fighter from the buckle wearing town, East End. They were strong, quick, and competent, but they were ultimately just grunt soldiers, and Hank’s group didn’t bother with them. Above them, there was a vast space with the Donnyton Squad members. They each had different strengths but were mostly role players. These too were ultimately set aside as opponents. Beyond them lay the third tier, and the place where Affina and Ezekiel found themselves suitably challenged. That was Vandal, the leader of Squad 29, and the two vice-captains of the other Squads.

These four were great at everything, and incredible at their own individual area. Fighting against them was usually a matter of a chess match, where you would try and get the opportunity to take advantage of the area in which you were great, and kept the opponent from doing the same.

Hank, especially after he had obtained the three new Skills and his evolved Soulskill, found these four to be increasingly easy to suppress. As he recovered and familiarized himself with his new tools, he felt an increasing gap opening up between them. Mostly, Hank believed it was his new SoulSkill, The Ballad of the Righteous Coyote. He just felt… grounded in a way that he had never previously. Like he was connected to something bigger, like the fabric of the world’s story was laid out before him.

With his Soulskill, he could understand a bit of what was occurring, or about to occur in the world. Knowing his role allowed Hank to exceed his normal performance. He was poised and ready for any trouble the world might throw at him. And in a strange way, Hank felt he could lift his nose to the wind and smell trouble coming a mile off.

Right now, he smelled it both in front of him and behind him, which was disturbing. But his instincts seemed to push him forward. Besides, he had a responsibility to speak with the political leaders of this Donnyton. This was his path.

Well, that was at least how it felt to Hank. It was a nebulous thing, this feeling his Soulskill gave him. But it was delightful to feel.

When he brought it up to Laurel, she gave him a strange look, then shrugged. This gave him more worries than relief because she was the type that became extremely quiet and solemn only when she felt something serious was occurring. When Hank asked Paolo and Kayle, he received a much more direct answer.

They exchanged knowing looks, and then Kayle said. “You’ll have to talk to Nathan if you want to know anything more specific… but I suspect what you feel is a bit of pure Aether. It will make the System more malleable to you for a while. Relish this chance, they are hard to come by.”

After some searching, Hank had learned that Nathan had returned to the borderlands right after helping him. He resolved himself to thank the kid when he came back through the borderlands.

When Hank himself wasn’t dueling, he was watching other duels, of all levels of strength and skill. There were group battles too, generally 5 on 5s, between the Donnyton Squads, and also between Donnyton and East End. Although there was a powerful rivalry, there was also an admirable comradery there. But Hank supposed that was just the way it had to be, between people of this level of strength. Everyone knew how hard getting here was. There was a respect for that.

Hank tried the group fights once, but it was a whole different animal. In that match, he was isolated from his squad and knocked out. Luckily, a woman who used two shields, named Cassie, smashed apart the enemy forces in the time it took for Hank to finally go down, rendering his squad the victor.

But the fun couldn’t last. It had been two weeks of training, and it was time to move on. When Hank counted up his PP, his eyebrows rose precipitously. He had gained almost 70 Skill Levels over these two weeks. Most of it was in his new Skills, but still…

That was more PP than he had gained in any month for the past year and a half. And that was with him spending most of the first week recovering in bed.

‘This is the difference between us,’ Hank thought, reflecting on his losses. ‘This is the line. And from what they said… Paolo and Kayle are some of the best, but they aren’t the best. Hell, what is the best of Zone 32 like?’