044 Hitmen

“First off, Byron’s a Guardian,” she explained to Paz and I, who had taken seats on the bed. “It means we can reasonably expect him to focus on Strength and Endurance above all other stats.”

“He’s also silver-ranked,” Paz added with glee, “which means unlike the rest of us wankers, he has a stat cap of thirty.”

A vein throbbed in my head. “How are the ranks divided?”

My teammates looked at me like I had asked a stupid question, in the same vein as whether mattresses were for sleeping.

“Just assume,” I added, “that I have lived a very sheltered life.”

Nicola laughed. “Well, the regular caste covers everything from levels one to the threshold . . .”

I knew that much. Vizhima had three castes: Regulars, Specialists, and Rankers. Everyone became a regular at age thirteen and entered any of the other two castes at level 10 if they had the resources.

“The iron rank follows after that,” Nicola continued, “covering everything from levels ten to twenty-four.”

“Silver starts from twenty-five,” Paz interjected. “And, Gold at fifty. Platinum at seventy-five. Iridium at ninety—”

“Adamantium, one hundred,” I finished. Somewhere beyond that lay the realm of divinity. The rank of Herald.

Nicola adjusted her spectacles, which she had pulled from her inventory sometime during her lecture. “As a silver-ranked Guardian, Byron is going to be difficult for people like us to kill. It doesn’t help that Guardians, by default, have the largest health and stamina pools of all the classes.”

I jotted that down in Damien’s Notes. I didn’t know that the health and stamina meters differed for all classes, but if I could hazard a guess, it probably went Fighter, Rogue, and Caster in order of superiority.

The Hybrid classes were difficult to place . . . “Do all hybriders get the same amounts of health and stamina?” I asked.

“No,” Nicola answered. “Shifters are slightly less robust than Fighters, while Riders fall behind Rogues.”

“Casters are dead last,” Paz said with a smirk.

“Thank you for that astute observation,” Nicola intoned dryly. “But, Casters have access to the best abilities in terms of damage and area of effect. That aside, another problem we’d run into with Byron is his affinity. He’s attuned to—”

“Apathy, right?” I said.

“Yes. And, it grants him reasonable control of the battlefield. None of us possesses a hard counter to his abilities, which means our best shot at victory is throwing everything we can at him right from the outset.”

“And, Beelith?”

“Easier to manage. Shifters don’t unlock many abilities over their lifetime, giving us little to fear from her affinity. What she brings to the table, however, is incredible physicality.” Nicola worried her lip. “I dare not enter a fistfight with her.”

“I can take her,” Paz said with a yawn. “Pound for pound, no class deals as much damage as Skirmishers in melee.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “The last time you got into a duel, she ripped you apart in seconds.”

“Two reasons,” Paz said, raising an equivalent number of fingers. “One: I needed to divert attention away from you both. Two: It also served as an information-gathering exercise.”

“Wonder how that turned out,” Nicola said beneath her breath.

Paz ignored her. “Shifters have two core skills. [Alter Self], which is a partial transformation. And, [Shapeshift]: the one you don’t want them to use at night in a dark alley.

“I can match her if she limits herself to the former. She’s definitely overconfident enough to try. What we don’t want is an activation of [Shapeshift] while her party members are around to back her up.”

“There’s also the fact,” I added, suppressing a strong urge to raise my hand, “that she would be much stronger by the time we enter the Labyrinth. She’s level twenty-four now. That’s one short of silver, no?”

Nicola sighed. “We can safely assume that the entire party would be silver-ranked within their first few days in the dungeon. The Skeelien Labyrinth denies entry to everyone above level twenty-five. But, once admitted, rankers are free to grow as strong as they can.”

That sounded useful. Dungeons had level caps which meant Byron would avoid leveling up until he had safely entered the Labyrinth.

Was there a way we could use this against him? Force him to kill something to surpass the level cap . . . like a monster . . . or Paz . . .

Paz shivered at my gaze. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“This [Sanguine Return] of yours,” I asked, “how does it work?”

“I’m not sharing that detail.”

“You asked us to trust you.”

“That’s way more trust than I require.”

“It could help inform our tactics,” Nicola said slowly. “Plus, you’re the first person I have seen with effective resurrection. I’m also curious about its principles.”

Paz faced the wall. “There’s nothing special about it.”

“Nothing special about a broken technique?”

“Oi. Broken is far from the truth. Sure, the ability helps out in a pinch, but it only offers a single instance of resurrection before going on cooldown.”

“That makes what?” I asked. “One rez every six hours?”

Paz winced. “One every twelve.”

“And, you get to control when you respawn?”

“That, and from what body part. There’s a brief delay after dying, but I can hold out from returning for as long as I want to secure an advantage.”

I licked my lips. “And, what about XP? Beelith noted that she won experience points from your fight. Did she lose them after you returned?”

“No . . .” His eyes widened at the look on my face. “Don’t you fucking dare continue that line of thought.”

But, my mind had already run away with the implication. Paz could offer a [System] exploit in a pinch, but it was of little use to me now, seeing as I was of a higher level than him.

I changed the subject anyway for his sake. “What about two casters? What do we know about their movesets?”

“The Warlock is attuned to Wrath,” Nicola explained. “Again, this will be difficult to deal with because it beats everything we have in terms of sheer firepower.”

Paz draped an arm around my shoulder. “Damien can assassinate him, no problem, I’m sure.”

“Big problem,” I said, shrugging off his arm. “And, the Mage?”

“Unknown,” Nicola said, “at least, to me.”

“What’s the difference between the two classes anyway?”

“Mages get [Spellcasting] as their sole fighting style, Warlocks [Spellweaving]. In simple terms, Mages require a focus to cast abilities. Warlocks, on the other hand, cast them barehanded.”

“So, we beat the Mage by robbing him of his staff?”

Paz snorted. “They can still cast without it. Just much slower.”

“Yes,” Nicola agreed. “By using a focus, Mages add the damage rating of their weapon to their [Spellcasting]. If a Warlock can hit an ability for ten damage points for example, a Mage with a staff that possesses a damage rating of five would hit the same spell for fifteen damage."

Ouch. "So, what's the point of being a Warlock, then?"

"The point is that by doing away with a focus, and with the proper allocation of stats, Warlocks sacrifice power in favor of faster casting times and versatility. They do this by throwing spare points into [DEX] until they unlock the Dual Cast perk.”

“Nasty perk, that,” Paz said. “It allows a Warlock to cast two different spells at the same time.”

“I have that perk too,” I said, “given by Greater Dexterity. But, it is called Dual Wield in my case and doesn’t show up on the status screen.”

Paz nodded. “Perks, as a general rule, do not show up on status. This includes attribute perks, racial perks, and general ones like the Inventory. It drove philosophers mad for the longest time trying to decipher it.

“Besides, the Warlock is the only class able to unlock Dual Cast. Rogues get Dual Wield like in your case, while other classes receive nothing from the attribute. Your perk grants the expertise needed for two-weapon fighting, effectively making you ambidextrous.”

I looked at my left hand. How had I missed that? I’d always been comfortable using a non-dominant hand, so maybe that explained why I’d failed to notice the change. Then again, the last two days had been filled with activity.

“All of that is true,” Nicola chipped in, “but it is highly unlikely that Red Wyrm’s Warlock would focus on Dexterity this early at the expense of other core attributes like Magic Intellect and Magicka.

“Mages, on the other hand, don’t show much variation in their builds. So, Red Wyrm's Mage is easily the most predictable on his team. His goal would always be to zone the enemy and catch as many as he can in a single sigil.”

“Still weak to Assassins though,” Paz said. “as long as they don’t see him coming, Damien should melt them.”

I had a feeling that he was overestimating my abilities.

“Tell me about the affinities,” I said, seeking a change of topic. “So far, I’ve learned about Wrath, Compassion, and Apathy, not counting the three available to us.”

“That leaves eighteen more of them,” Nicola said, returning to lecture mode. “I’ve seen less than half of the total number in action. Hell, some affinities are considered rare enough that you never encounter them in one lifetime.”

“Mind starting from the top?”

Paz beat her to it by way of a song:

“Joy and Sorrow for wind and water.

Love for healing, Hatred for spite.

Wrath ignites, Contrition encumbers.

Two emotions, virtue and vice.”

He sang in a rich and regal voice, much different from his usual churlishness. His eyes fluttered closed in that moment, as though lost in a memory.

Nicola furrowed her brows. “Where did you learn that?”

Paz blinked. “From back home. It used to be a popular children’s rhyme, traced back to the origin of man.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Nicola said, taking a seat beside me. “And, I was tutored by the best as a child. Please, continue.”

“Alright, but fair warning, my memory’s a little janky. Let’s see:

“Courage for steel, and fame, and mettle.

Fear for dread, and shadows, and night.

Hope unwavering; death to Despair.

Two emotions, virtue and vice.

In contrast to holy Compassion.

Lies blood and vile Retribution.

Pleasure’s horrific, Pain is a jolt.

Two emotions, virtue and vice.

Greed is empty, void, and devouring.

No match for Generosity’s / flowering.

But, Envy is poison.

Contentment is bliss.

Apathy is chilling.

Empathy, mystic.

Confusion confuses.

Clarity exposes.

Hasty Impatience

Won't wait for responses.

Consideration

is whatever it likes.

Two emotions, virtue and vice.”

“Again,” I demanded, struggling to write.

Paz chuckled. “You won’t learn much that way. The song was designed to be clear in parts and ambiguous in others. You’re better off studying the affinities on a battlefield.”

“By that time, it would be too late!”

“Listen,” Paz said, getting to his feet, “if you suckers are adamant about grinding for a week, what say you about braving death at this place I know?”

Nicola and I exchanged a look.

“That doesn’t sound very safe,” she said.

“Oh, please. It’s what Damien wanted. Plus, are we going to wait around for Byron to set the inn on fire? If we intend to remain in Skeelie, we best find some kind of safe house.”

That last bit sealed the deal for me.

With nothing more to say, we gathered our possessions.