Chapter 109: Back to the Norm

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Cayden sat patiently as the rest of the students in Class Progression filed out of the classroom, standing and walking up to the desk at the front when it was empty.

“Cayden, do you have a question for me? You can’t be due for another class upgrade already – was there an issue with the class you chose?” Instructor Tawny asked, looking up from the papers on her desk.

Cayden shuffled awkwardly under the gaze of the helpful ratkin instructor. “Ah, no, no issue. Thanks for your advice, by the way. I’ve been meaning to come back and let you know how that went – sorry it’s taken so long.”

Instructor Tawny smirked but didn’t call him out on the fib. Truthfully, he hadn’t even considered going back to the instructor with information on his [Test Subject] class. Not out of any sense of secrecy or maliciousness, just…it felt strange trusting an instructor with something so personal. Even though she’d already seen the name and description of the class. And he’d already given her the skills of his previous class…now that he thought about it, he had no good excuse. “I look forward to hearing about it, then,” she said. “But was there anything else you wanted to ask me as well?”

“Er, yeah,” Cayden responded, thankful for the segue. “I was wondering if you could offer me some advice about some possible skills.”

“Of course. I’m not quite as much of an expert on general skills as Instructor Ponce, but I can help as much as I am able. Why don’t you follow me to my office.”

Cayden breathed a sigh of relief before trailing the diminutive instructor out of the room. He knew his skills instructor would probably have been the ‘correct’ choice for who to ask his questions, but it had already been hard enough trusting Instructor Tawny for aid with his class selection; he had no desire to do the same with his aloof skills instructor, not without first exhausting his other options.

A minute later, Cayden sank into the chair opposite Instructor Tawny’s desk in her office.

“What was it you wanted to ask me?” she asked, and Cayden gathered his nerve.

“Do you have any advice on skills that I could use to increase my mental resistance?” he said, deciding being straightforward was best.

“Hm, that’s a very broad question. I assume you already know about the [Mental Resistance] skill?” Instructor Tawny asked. Cayden nodded. “There are a few other skills I know from the top of my head, but perhaps it would help if you could specify what type of mental resistance are you looking for. Overcoming fear and doubt, or other self-inflicted mental impairments? Resisting more subtle charismatic manipulations? Or defending against mind-shredding attacks?”

“I…didn’t realize there were different categories. Mind-shredding attacks? What’re those?”

Instructor Tawny nodded. “They, like all the rest, fall under the umbrella of what’s covered by [Mental Resistance], but other skills may only affect one or two of the categories. Mind-shredding attacks are probably the least common type you’ll find yourself facing, but if you do, they can be particularly nasty. You can think of them as the mental versions of the fireball spell. There is no subtlety or attempt to manipulate – their only purpose is to destroy the target’s mind. Some of the monsters in the eldritch dungeon use attacks like this.”

Cayden shuddered but then shook his head. The princess’ [Compulsion] skill didn’t seem subtle, but he doubted it fell into the ‘mind-shredding’ category. And he was almost certain the skill was backed by her charisma. “I think I’m looking to defend against the ‘charismatic manipulations’ category.”

“Well, as I mentioned earlier, [Mental Resistance] is probably the first one I’d suggest. Easy to acquire and about as wide of a range as you can hope for. Not as powerful as some of the more specialized skills, but a good place to start. [Mind is a Temple] is another good option. It’s useless against mind-shredding attacks, but it’s particularly strong against any subtle manipulations. It will alert you any time your mind is being affected by an outside influence.”

Cayden frowned. “...I already have both of those.”

Instructor Tawny’s eyes widened. “And that’s still not enough for what you need?” She paused, but Cayden didn’t respond, so a moment later she continued. “In that case, perhaps the skill [Know Thyself]. It’s a bit harder to acquire, and is tied closely with [Meditation] – essentially, it involves a lot of self-reflection on the part of the user, to the point where any external influences are unable to gain purchase. It will take a while to get it, though; I don’t know of anyone who got the skill without first getting [Meditation] to at least level ten. Well, aside from a few different [Monk] classes which received it as a class skill.”

Cayden winced upon hearing the requirements but then paused in thought. “Do you know anyone in the capital who currently has the skill?”

“I don’t believe so…but why would that affect anything?”

“...I should probably tell you about my new class…” Cayden said – and then for the next fifteen minutes, proceeded to do just that.

She hadn’t been dismissive of Cayden’s earlier questions, but Instructor Tawny’s focus was almost scary in its intensity as she listened to him explain his class. She didn’t take physical notes, but she did bring up her ‘projection’ skill to copy down each of Cayden’s described class skills, double-checking with him to make sure each word was correct before moving on to the next. After she’d copied down the last skill and Cayden finished explaining his experiences with how the skills worked, she leaned back into her chair.

“That’s quite a class you have there,” she said. “One of the weakest I’ve seen in terms of immediate power. But one of the strongest in terms of versatility and potential for the future. [Save Progress] and [Borrowed Power] especially, if they allow you to save and borrow more than one skill at a time as they level up.” She gave Cayden an appraising look. “I’ll be interested to see how you develop them.”

Cayden shuffled awkwardly under her gaze. “Thanks…but that’s why I was wondering if you knew anyone with the skill – so I can learn it with [Borrowed Power].”

“...that seems a bit of a waste of your skill when it can only borrow a single skill at a time, is it not? There are so many more powerful skills – class and racial skills that would be impossible to acquire otherwise – that many would argue are better choices.”

Cayden didn’t respond, simply running his sheathed claws over the regrowing hand at the end of his nub.

“If that is what you think you need, though, I can make some inquiries. I am curious as to why you believe you need such…robust…mental protections, but I won’t pry – I’ll let you know if I can get in contact with anyone with the skill. Is there anything else you need?”

Cayden gave her a thankful smile before shaking his head, and after bidding the instructor goodbye, left the office.

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The rest of the week passed as if nothing had changed. Cayden went about his regular classes and training, interacting with Jeremy and the rest of his classmates with his same single-minded focus on bettering himself. He noticed a few of the other students casting him sidelong glances, their stares following him for longer than he was used to, likely in response to the rumors of his angry march across campus. But when he didn’t burst into angry flames at their stares, and since the few people who actually knew the truth of what had happened were keeping silent, the attention faded as newer, more interesting gossip caught the attention of the noble students.

Cayden finally had his rematch with Ignar after their mutual reveal of new skills, or in Ignar’s case, an increase in power to his existing skill – Cayden wasn’t sure which. The fight was much more even than it had been in the weeks leading up to their match in the arena.

[The One Who Watches] completely negated Ignar’s powerful escape skill, actually giving Cayden a chance to catch up with the slitherkin. And Ignar’s boosted [Echoed Blade] was strong enough to actually give Cayden pause and force him to dodge an attack, rather than simply tanking everything Ignar threw his way.

Of course, things didn’t completely change. Even without any active movement skills, Ignar was still much faster than Cayden, and Cayden was still a juggernaut who could push through all but the strongest of attacks. And despite his non-stop training, Cayden’s skill with his claws was wanting in comparison to Ignar’s years of training with his blades.

Ignar dashed and dodged around the younger gargoyle with impeccable footwork, always keeping the perfect distance between them to retreat or attack as needed. His real blades and the empowered [Echoed Blade] were the only things that could actually harm Cayden, who used every trick he could think of to close the distance enough to grab the older boy. It didn’t take long, though, for Ignar to become accustomed to the unsettling effect of Cayden’s eyes, and he had long since been unaffected by Cayden’s random usages of [Taunt].

Ignar won the first several spars, landing precise strikes to incapacitate Cayden. He expressed worry for Cayden’s health now that he had something that could actually injure him in the spar, but Cayden had simply waved his concerns away. He was accustomed to pain, and as long as Ignar didn’t aim for any lethal strikes, a moderate healing potion, coupled with [Alchemical Assistance], was enough to restore him back to full health after each bout.

As the spars went on, Cayden came closer and closer to victory. The only thing differentiating Ignar’s normal [Echoed Blades] from the empowered one seemed to be that he could only summon a few empowered [Echoed Blades] at a time, in contrast to the dozen normal ones. It was enough to let him know which ones he could ignore and which he needed to dodge, until Ignar started to mix it up, summoning the normal [Echoed Blades] in pairs to force dodges when they weren’t needed. And as time passed, more and more of the conjured blades were the weaker versions.

Ignar had won the first spars, but as they went on, it turned into a battle of attrition – one Cayden was winning.

It was an advantage of his build he hadn’t really explored before. Almost every fight or test he’d been in at the academy had been quick, usually decided after just a few skill activations. But he now realized that if he could drag the fight out long enough, his passive skills would eventually reign triumphant when his enemies inevitably ran out of mana.

He still couldn’t tell which [Echoed Blades] were dangerous and which weren’t, but after getting grazed from dozens of the attacks, he realized that more and more of them were ‘fakes’ that couldn’t actually damage him. He didn’t know Ignar’s mana stats, but he figured the other boy must be running low – so the next time Ignar stepped forward with two summoned [Echoed Blades], he rolled the dice.

Ignoring the potential danger from the skills, Cayden dove through the blades of light, his gamble paying off as they cracked against his chest leaving only tiny scratches. Ignar attempted to backpedal, but he’d trusted in Cayden’s dodge and stepped just barely too close, and Cayden’s clawed hand – still sheathed for safety – closed in on him. His escape skill attempted to activate, but was immediately shut down by [The One Who Watches], and before the boy could do anything else, Cayden’s hand closed around his shoulder in a vise grip.

“I concede,” Ignar called in a defeated tone, and Cayden nodded back, releasing his grip with a grin. “Well done. Although that was risky – if those had been my more powerful versions, your lungs would be shredded right now.”

“Risk I was willing to take,” Cayden replied with a shrug. “It wasn’t my heart or brain, so I’d have had plenty of time to drink a potion.”

Ignar looked at him consideringly for a moment before giving a decisive nod. “A risky gambit. Maybe not the best habit to build, sacrificing essential organs for an advantage, but I can’t deny that it worked. I’ll have to account for it in future spars.” And then he sighed. “But that will have to come later. I am almost entirely out of mana.”

“Next time, then.”

“Next time,” Ignar agreed, and they shared a savage smile before going their separate ways.

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Somehow, despite living in the same dorm, Cayden and Velic managed to avoid seeing each other for the rest of the week, but Cayden knew it couldn’t last forever. At the very least, they would have to interact when they were in their dorm’s squad training under Instructor Barry early the next week. It wasn’t something Cayden was looking forward to, and he was still trying to figure out what he might say to his noble roommate.

But before that, he had another meeting, one he was simultaneously looking forward to and dreading. The coming Dyneday he had another hour with his sister, which was always a cause for celebration.

But it meant he had to figure out how – and what – to tell her about their parents’ deaths.

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