"Holy shit, YOU'RE Tom?!" Derrick exclaimed in shock, a hint of fear in his quivering lip.
"Last I fucking checked?" I answered, restraining old feelings of resentment mixed with strangely pleasant nostalgia from the placement tournament stirring within.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Cassi asked, confused.
"Yeah, I know 'em. Last time I saw him I had my Wakizashi stuck in his skull." I answered, only earning an even further befuddled stare from Cassi.
"A Wakiza-what now…?" Cassi mumbled to herself as I approached Derrick.
"Hey, come on, Tom. Just relax a second, I don't want to fight you man." Derrick said, putting his hands up backing away. Weird, considering how confident he'd been at the tournament while teleporting a quarter of an inch around the arena.
"You're telling me you don't want to fight me at all? What happened to all that confidence? 'You can't even touch me', remember that?" I asked, taken aback at his shying away.
"It died after I got teleported to the viewing area. I felt crushed, like I was doomed to be godless and therefore truly on my own considering I have no family anywhere near here, nor living friends left."Derricks voice sounded far steadier and articulate than it had during our match, though we weren't actively trying to kill each other right now.
"No, no instead I found myself replaying my mistakes in my head over and over. It only dawned on me that I simply wasn't trained well enough to beat you after my patron picked me as their Chosen shortly after I 'died'." He expanded, revealing he somehow found a patron after all.
"Huh…so you stopped training?" I asked, confused.
"In combat, yes. I wasn't fit to be the top fighter of any settlement, which is what made the Elysium so perfect for me. I got to work on my Enchanter Profession in total peace." Derrick answered.
"He neglected his combat training so efficiently in fact, that he stunted his Profession progress." Cassi teased, jumping back into the conversation.
"How does that work?" I asked.
"Well, you know the evolutions and shit? I never did mine, having never even reached level 5 in my class. Now, I'm level 9 in my Profession, but experience is coming in much smaller quantities from the same work. According to my Goddess Hekdrun, that is." Derrick explained, an affable smile across his face.
Honestly, the idea of having this crazy mage-tank hybrid on our side wasn't terrible. It's the fact he'd neglected his abilities that puzzled me, possessing genuinely incredible skills and abandoning them all together. It shook my previous notions of him I'd formed from our 12 minute fight to the death only a few weeks ago, having assumed he'd seek me out during the tutorial for revenge. His takeaway to forfeit fighting altogether just felt uncharacteristic to me, even though I admittedly knew very little of him.
"Well, you're certainly with the right group if you're looking for fighting experience. We can start training as soon as Cassi gives the green light. Cassi?" I said, turning toward Cassi eagerly for an opportunity to stir up Derricks warrior spirit.
"That was the plan for today actually. Another wave is coming tomorrow, so I'll be busy arranging our remaining warriors along with a new group of 15 that came with Derrick. They'll be joining you two, as they all lack the tools to survive out here." Cassi answered in a serious manner. Derrick's relaxed posture remained, indicating he'd at least be willing to spar for the sake of progress.
I can work with that.
After introducing myself to the rest of our new recruits who all looked excited to learn, many whispers containing mine and Korbin's name were exchanged along our way for the newly upgraded training facility at the far side of the settlement. Derrick, however, walked stride for stride beside me.
"So I hear you're one of the original saviors and founders of Savants Elysium? It true you managed to save two adults and a child the first day?" Derrick asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, if you count Korbin, his wife and child. Korbin handled himself just fine though." I said, not seeing a reason to lie.
"Ah, I see. What role did you actually play then?" He asked.
"Well, I killed most of the giant rats that came in. I just uh…yeah, killed most of them." I said, stopping myself from sharing such a personal failure with a borderline stranger. This had already been a Derrick I didn't recognize anymore, not to say I had a good grasp on his character after killing him in ritualistic combat. Meaning there's no telling his personal motives quite yet.
"Right. If my memory of our fight serves me well, that's no surprise. You were already a bit of a monster before ever getting a level, man." Derrick replied with a laugh. To most that could be easily construed as an insult. Most weren't in fighting for their lives nonstop before ever getting here, either.
"That's funny you say that, I always thought your little teleport move was way too overpowered." I responded, returning the compliment. That move was hugely why his pacifistic lifestyle confused me so.
"Yeah, it's pretty nice. It helps me in other ways now, mainly my projects." He answered, smiling blankly in recollection as we approached the training facility. Like the one at the Elysium, it was designed underground hidden by metal walls that functioned in ways I couldn't even begin to comprehend. All I knew for certain was how enamoring I found the seemingly solid stone folding in dozens of shapes on itself, bending as a means of traversing the training grounds.
Activating the terminal positioned in front of the facility entrance, the metals on the door crumbled into geometric shapes from the center, revealing the large training area. Toward the far end was obstacle training, offering a variety of turbulent terrains to terraform from another terminal. The nearest section held a weight training room, equipped with weight that adjusted in weight based on your selection at yet another terminal.
Finally the center section, where I ushered Derrick and the other recruits, was the sparring area. Countless sparring circles scattered across a massive open space about 60 yards in length, and 40 in width. A few secluded sections hosted larger battle areas, at sizes more comparable to the tournament arenas than Savants Elysium's.
After reaching the centermost sparring area, it turned to face the recruits, flicking my hand gesturing to Derrick to step back to join them as well.
"Okay recruits. I can't promise you the way we do things today will be how you train under General Cassi or Korbin. What I can guarantee however, is you will leave here significantly better equipped for a fight to the death, no matter the context. So long as you pay attention, to both me and yourselves. Do I make myself clear?"
"YES SIR!" The soldiers echoed in unison. Smiling, I walked along the group a few times and sized them up individually.
"You folks are new I take it, by the cleanliness of your armor." Approaching a particularly larger recruit, I knocked my knuckle onto his armor.
"Not even a scratch on. Do they let you spar at the Elysium?" I asked, though it was apparently interpreted as a rhetorical question judging by the complete silence that followed. Turning on my heel, I continued looking the recruits up and down. That is until I reached Derrick, stopping and pointing out from the line.
"You. Come out here." I ordered while backing deeper into the sparring area. Derrick's smile finally faded at the request before he nervously stepped forward.
"Everyone else, get behind the sparring area borderlines. The first lesson today will be for all of us, including myself." I said, before assuming a fighter stance with my twinblade sheathed and still connected at the hilts.
"We will discover exactly how much, or little, you all truly know. Starting with you, Derrick." I continued, grinning ear to ear glaring into Derrick's eyes. Sweat already began dripping down his temple, yet he still managed to return a smirk in kind.
"When do we start, Captain?" He asked.
"Whenever you're ready, big guy."
Derrick's smile dropped into a look of sheer focus as he assumed his familiar defensive stance, holding his new halberd at the ready. Slowly he crept forward, clearly waiting for me to launch onto the offensive. Finally, after getting within a few feet of me, he lurched forward, feigning an attack.
His Flow was practically screaming bluff, his shoulders never having twitched when his leg muscles activated. No strike worth a damn was going to be thrown, unless he intended on jumping on me like an old 2-dimensional video game. Derrick looked puzzled at my patience, clearly hoping I'd shoot for a counter strike.
"One can't counter what was never a strike to begin with." Korbin's taunting words during my training nearly a year ago playing through my head. Korbin used a feign to trick me into pushing forward, straight into an uppercut that ended our training session rather efficiently.
"Come on, Derrick. We haven't got all day." I sneered, only tracing his cautionary movements with my eyes. Finally, he reared up for an attack, sending his axe around for a sideways slash at my ribs. The Flow had barely reached his hands when my boot smashed into his knuckles, causing the halberd to fling out of his hands into the air away from us, spinning like a helicopter propeller.
My kicking foot planted down onto his toes, keeping him from moving further sending an upward strike with my sheathed twinblade to his skull. His body blinked out of existence in a flash of violet energy before appearing a few inches away from my attack.
The hard sheath of my twinblade that I twirled like a bo staff swung over his head as Derrick rolled under my strike. Quickly he scurried to retrieve his halberd, something I would've gladly done for him if he'd asked.
"Again." I said, still unmoving from my prior spot. Derrick exhaled a deep breath before reentering the fight. He feigned a diagonal slash, probably hoping I'd shift my weight the other way to avoid it. Curious, I activated Fluidic Fighters Stance and willingly fell for the bait. The Flow transferred from his blade toward the other side of his halberd early, giving away his pommel strike.
Releasing one hand from my weapon, I palm struck the center of Derricks pole arm as the Flow clustered, glowing a white hue as my hand impacted. His Halberd's long polearm smashed into his chin, sending him stumbling back with wide eyes in a daze. The weapon bounced off the canvas in front of me while Derrick gathered his senses.
"How the hell are you so quick?!" Derrick asked in astonishment, holding his chin moving his jaw around.
The familiar perception boost from activating Fluidic Fighter Stance helped locate his movements easier during that exchange, as it had during the tournament. The added +3 agility to this skill and what I'd accrued leveling did most of the heavy lifting for the speed as well. That +6 wisdom boost Fluidic Fighter Stance gave however was something different. The Flow I was tracking no longer depended on reading body language until a flash of its energy manifested, instead glowing a bright white hue throughout his arm and even its extension; his weapon.
I could have gone into detail how my tireless practice and meditation of my abilities and affinities had paved the way for me to even receive the skill I tested haphazardly in the first place. There were other recruits that needed training however, forcing me to summarize my answer.
"I didn't quit when I lost." I said, sliding my foot under his weapon at my feet and flicking it back to him.
"Again."
Derrick's contorted expression implied I might have finally gotten under his skin. His angry charge forward confirmed it, wildly slashing forward with his halberd. Finally moving from where I'd began our spar, his halberd glided past my body Water Stepping to the side of his strike. Derrick quickly followed up with an ugly upwards slash, one my stomping foot onto his pole-arm cut off with a Flow Inverse.
My foot bounced up from his weapon while my free hand pulled down on his neck, slamming my knee up into his nose. His head recoiled back violently, blood spattering from his face. Yet without a second thought he returned his focus quickly on his next attack. He dashed forward swinging a horizontal slash, which I redirected over my head sliding closer to his hands and avoiding the heavy double bladed axe tip.
My leg nearest to him launched up for a head kick, finding no purchase as Derricks violet mana blipped his body just out of range. The momentum of my kick spun me around, leaving my back shoulder exposed to Derrick reanimating into reality. Yet, he merely backed away.
"Why do you ONLY retreat with that skill?" I blurted out, beginning to lose my patience at his severe lack of skill.
"What do you mean?" He asked nasally, wiping the dribbling blood from his crooked nose.
"You teleport like an inch out of range and just run away. Every. Single. Time." I pointed out, clapping my hands in rhythm with my last three words.
"But, it's my escape skill? It's defensive?" He said, trying to 'defend' his wasteful use of the skill.
"Okay. Tell you what, let's put a pause on this fight and just walk through that last exchange really slowly," I instructed. Derrick snot rocketed a clump of blood from his nose as I spoke.
"…can you do that?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, yeah okay." He agreed, looking relieved just to stop fighting. Grabbing his shoulders I place him where he was right when that last head kick was bouncing up to his head.
"Okay, so just trust me, don't move." I instructed before slowly raising my leg back up toward his head.
"Now, what did you do here?" I asked. Derrick didn't respond with words, instead activating his skill and teleporting back as he had before.
"Perfect. Now look where my leg ends up." I said, finishing my kick and landing across my body.
"Okay?" He said, not seeing the point.
"Where am I facing?" I asked him, while also looking around at the trainees, opening up to the rest of the class for answers.
"Away from him?" One soldier unconfidently guessed.
"Yes, you're right. Which means my back is what?"
"Facing me." Derrick answered for himself now.
"Good, now tell me Derrick. If you had just thrown a strike with that long ass axe of yours while you teleported, do you think I could have stopped it in time like this?" I asked from over my shoulder, still having my chest faced totally away from him. Derrick furrowed his brow before slowly swinging his halberd around, stopping it right at my ribs. His face flashed the wonderful shock of discovery.
"There, now you're getting it." I said through a big smile, elated he finally understood. In all honesty, I'm not sure I would've lost a single fight if I had his teleporting bullshit. All he needed was a few skills and some knowledge, and I could see him being just as strong as I worried he might have become even still.
"Now, again." I said, going on the offensive for the first time. My strikes were purposefully slower, hoping Derrick would apply what he learned. Derrick teleported away from my sheathed twinblade barreling for his face, unloading a slash over his shoulders for my head as he relocated.
Fuck, he's going for the kill.
My twinblade split apart as I ducked, leaving my chain to snack around the polearm. Pulling it away, Derrick refused to let go, making him lean closer to me. My elbow blasted into his jaw, forcing him to stumble back, now unarmed.
"I would have rewarded that counter attack if you didn't go for the killing blow the second I let you win an exchange, you asshole." I sneered, sliding his weapon to him again. Derrick just smiled holding his face, blinking a few times to retrieve his focus.
"Fair enough, we going again?" He asked, his eyes burning with the familiar warriors bright yearning for victory he had possessed at the tournament. Smiling, I stood up straight and reconnected my twinblades.
"No. You have had your time to prove your knowledge. I will spar any who believes they possess more than him, now." I announced, looking over the crowd of silent recruits.
"Very well, then we'll go over your technique, or lack thereof. Then, you shall spar amongst yourselves to familiarize yourself with the heat of combat. Be mindful that each of your performances determine how we end the day. Hold each other accountable, or I will." I warned the soldiers before gathering them to shadow some basic striking and defensive techniques.
The next few hours were spent giving the recruits a crash course on martial combat 101. Many of the soldiers refused to train with Derrick, forcing me to be his practice partner for most of the technical training as well as sparring. He made notable strides, showing signs of some level of a foundation he was merely building on here.
"You know, it's pretty glaringly obvious you had at least a little training before the integration." I exclaimed, holding my hands out for him to practice basic jab-straight combos, occasionally mixing a slipping dodge I'd yet to teach him yet.
"Yeah? Ugh UGH…and what training do you think that was?" Derrick asked between combination punches.
"I'd say boxer, but you know how to hold that halberd correctly. Even if you don't attack with it very effectively." I retorted, trying to figure his style out. It's funny, I'd forgone trying to figure him out long ago, yet with each passing moment my curiosity only magnified.
"Maybe you're a nerd? Like, a fit one who likes medieval style shit. How's that, in the ballpark?" I asked Derrick while he was actively training.
"Warmer." He teased, throwing a 4 punch combination into my open hands. His punches definitely hurt, but the sparring area passively healed over time, just not very much.
Stumped, I gave up the guessing game and instead caught his second punch, holding tightly before I spoke.
"What is it? You're a part of our faction, I technically have the right to know." I asked, now much more serious. Derrick smiled before answering.
"TTRPG's. I made up dungeons for my friends, and researched a plethora of old weapons to add realism to the fantasies we existed in every weekend. So yeah, super nerd indeed." My hand released his fist as Derrick answered.
"Now, was that so hard? You should set a game up after the conquest, I bet Korbin would be down, too." I said, raising my hands back up to resume his training. He nodded with a smirk, and got back to tuning his terrible form.
Once we'd reached a point where I felt they could no longer efficiently retain new knowledge, I split them into sparring partners instructed to interchange after each bout. Winners must face other winners, while the losers must face a fellow loser. This way there would be no disparity in skill for too long, allowing everyone to excel in their own 'weight class' so to speak.
Of course, Derrick won 20+ consecutive matches, each time faster and more disciplined in his striking. The mixture of his teleporting into his combos was visibly fucking with his opponents sense of range. He'd even increased his maximum distance traveled using the skill by 2 inches.
It didn't sound like much, but that meant his maximum range jumped threefold in two hours. That's a rate of improvement I strived for, giving me a rush of hope for our chances at quelling the wave due to attack tomorrow. What he may become after, well…I made sure to thoroughly study his 'void magic' and developing teleport habits.
The concepts at play looked absolutely alien, the energy effectively imploding on itself. The Flow in his body would rapidly vacuum into nothingness, only to manifest a distance away.
I really wish I had a skill like that.
Envy blossomed within, encasing around my chest before I shrugged away the petty feelings. After all, who says I couldn't achieve a skill like that anyway? No-Face told me, like every over supportive parent, that I could be anything after all. Though, that water slash ability still escaped me, and I'd already done that. Finding a way to harness some sort of teleporting skills was probably getting way too ahead of myself right now. Which only reinforces how utterly broken Derrick could be, I suppose.
Fuckin' hate mages.
"That's quite enough artful violence for one day, Tom." Cassi called out as she entered the facility. Every other soldier stood at attention as she entered, a few having to scramble to their feet having been losing their spar.
"Dang, and I was just starting to feel a connection here, what about you?" I asked loudly to the recruits, who all barked and stomped in near unison.
"I see you're turning them faral in less than a day's work. Never cease to surprise me do you, Tom?" Cassi teased through a smirk, shaking her head before addressing the recruits.
"You have all been assigned your roles in tomorrow's wave defense. Head outside to your brothers and sisters in arms, and wait for my instruction." Cassi called, before placing a hand on Derrick's chest as he tried walking past with the others.
"Not you. Tom, would you say based on today's assessment he's fit for tomorrow's wave?" Cassi asked, now turning to me.
"Better than the others by a square mile, yeah." I answered honestly. Cassi smiled as she dropped her arm from Derrick's heavy chest plate.
"Good. He's with you then. You will be assigned a special unit for any bigger enemies that slip through our exterior defenses. Korbin's provided an exorbitant amount of TP to upgrade the Pylons defensive measures, but there's no telling how many bosses could survive long enough to reach the walls." Cassi explained, before patting my shoulder as she always did.
"That's where you come in. Steve, Becky, Phoebe, and now Derrick will be at your disposal. That also means they're lives will be your responsibility." Cassi warned, emphasizing my need to be conscientious of my team.
"Of course. Will there be anyone else outside the gate? No healers on standby or anything?" I asked, confused at the reserved implications of her plan given how essential our numbers proved during the last wave defense.
"Nope. Don't worry, you shouldn't need healing. If you do, simply retreat back into the walls, you should be covered so long as you make it back." Cassi answered, entirely too casually for my liking before beginning to discuss today's training with Derrick.
"Now hold the fuck on. How are you so lax about this right now, Cass?! Do you not remember what we had to deal with last time?!" I asked, beginning to feel both concerned and angered at her detached outlook on our defenses. She merely smiled at me again as she answered.
"Tom, just trust me. Why don't you go catch up with the rest of your squad? Steve's been very much enjoying his new girlfriend, maybe you should get to know them better." Cassi offered dismissively. Part of me wanted to argue further, but Cassi had yet to give reason for me to doubt her tactical prowess. In essence, I'd be arguing a style I had little experience in with an avid student of the art.
Reluctantly, I nodded and headed up the lift that led back to the entrance at the surface to find the sun already on its descent west. After catching up with Phoebe again with no giant serpents in sight, I asked for the details of her contract with Becky. More importantly, what she meant having mentioned her Boa receiving wind affinity abilities earlier.
"So, I guess Becky already had the air affinity locked within. She just never used it, having only needed fire abilities to boost her strength and endurance during constricting attacks. I already actively use both fire and air affinities with my bow, and our interpolation of records simply unlocked her awareness of the affinity residing within. Pretty cool, huh?" Phoebe very quickly explained, making it difficult to follow while processing the details.
"So, hold on…what you're saying is a tamer and beasts records combine so much, it affects their affinities? How come I don't have an air affinity if Steve uses it?" I asked, having noticed his use during our first test flight with his wings. Phoebe grinned nefariously before she answered, only with a haunting question of her very own.
"How do you know you don't?"