The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 39

Chapter 39

The next two months were a blur of constant training, practicing with his Stama, and enduring the increasingly perplexed and angry looks of the other trainees and Instructors at Fort Hilltower. It turned out that the news that the Senior Instructor had taken Larek under his wing didn’t take long to disseminate throughout the Fort, aided by the obvious disdain of Instructor Hasat, who continued to show his dislike for the Fusionist whenever they passed each other.

Larek ignored the snide comments about how he was such a pathetic, special case that need the attention of the strongest Instructor just to have any chance of becoming a halfway decent Martial, as well as the venomous looks on the Instructor’s face whenever he happened to glance in his direction. Thankfully, Hasat hadn’t pushed further than the verbal abuse, though sharing the information on his inability to use Stama or Battle Arts with the rest of the trainees was likely the Instructor’s way of getting Larek back for… whatever his problem really was.

Unfortunately, the sharing of that information – which should’ve stayed between the Instructors and Larek – made all the other trainees confused, envious, or downright angry at the Fusionist. The reason for that? Well, Larek quickly learned that the Drekkin that had taken him on as a private trainee was considered the best of the best Instructors not only at Fort Hilltower, but was probably one of the top 10 if not the top 5 in the Kingdom. There were more powerful and stronger Martials in the Kingdom, even after the SIC had been gutted, but as far as those that most Martial trainees would ever see or interact with, Senior Instructor Torge was right near the top.

All of which meant that with Larek prioritizing his time, very few – if any – of the other trainees would be able to work with the powerful Instructor. Things really came to a head when he was taken out of his Monster Knowledge/Aperture Closure and Stama and Battle Arts classes the day after he made a breakthrough with his Stama Fusion, leaving Group Tactics and Agility Training as the only classes where he interacted even a little bit with other trainees. Larek was almost taken out of Group Tactics when Torge mentioned that he didn’t really need it, considering what he was planning on doing in the future, but the Fusionist protested and told his Instructor that it had been extremely beneficial information.  He doubted that he would go instantly from the Fort to the Enclave to save his family, as he still needed to improve himself to the point where he thought he might succeed, so any knowledge about fighting with other people was invaluable – because he wasn’t by himself anymore. If they managed to find the rest of their friends, it wouldn’t just be Nedira and him, but a whole entire group. While he wasn’t planning on taking them into the dangerous area of the Enclave and fight against the Gergasi, who knew what they would encounter before that happened?

As could be expected, his continued presence in Group Tactics was met with the same gamut of emotions coming from the other trainees, and he had endure being ignored, being stared at, or even being tripped or pushed from behind. Granted, the latter only lasted for a day or two before Larek had learned to apply his Martial stats a bit better and wouldn’t be so casually tripped up anymore, and he was strong enough to avoid pushed around once he learned how to set his weight and center of balance.

Agility Training on the obstacle course became more intense as he not only had to learn how to balance or contort himself around the obstacles, but he had to avoid the “accidental” shoves or extra hard throws coming from those trying to knock him off. He ignored these for the most part, because while he fell afoul of the incidents quite often at the beginning, it taught him to be a lot more perceptive and to utilize his stats in different ways to avoid falling.

The only time he didn’t ignore these activities was when, on two separate occasions, someone tried to literally stab him in the back. The first one succeeded, managing to sink a blade a few inches into his upper back on the right side… at least before Larek whipped around and practically took the man’s head off when he smacked him so hard he went flying off the obstacle course. He had actually ended up snapping his attacker’s neck in the process, which would’ve killed the man if it hadn’t been for the fact that there were a number of Healing Fusions that the Fusionist had created for use to heal injuries in the course. As it was, the damage to the foolish Martial’s nerves and neck was so severe and the man was so near death that he ended up having to recover for a few days afterward from the exhaustion in his body.

It was ruled an “accident” and neither Larek nor the injured trainee were punished, even though it was obvious what had happened; it was yet another indication that there was a bit of bias in the faculty, as Torge wasn’t present at the time – only other Instructors that looked at Larek as a drain on resources and shouldn’t even be there at the Fort (at least according to what they’d heard not only from Hasat, but from a reluctant affirmation of Larek’s handicap with Stama from Instructor Wendie). As a result, even with blood on his shirt and back indicating that he had been stabbed – since his wound had healed most of the way by the time he was able to report the attack – the whole thing was considered an accident and left it at that.

The other back-stabbing incident was later on, when Larek had improved not only in his application of his stats, but had improved his combat awareness through repetitive and painful training with the Senior Instructor. The woman, who was actually quite fast for a trainee, didn’t get her knife closer than a few inches before the Fusionist turned around, grabbed her hand, and broke her wrist all in a matter of a second. As the knife dropped to the stone floor below the obstacle course, he simply pushed her off as she looked at her wrist in horror, and then went back to working his way across a series of graduated beams that led to a wooden pole that he had to use his hands to climb down.

He didn’t bother to report the incident, and as far as he knew she didn’t either, so he quickly forgot about it after that. It wasn’t worth his time to do so, and most of the over attacks and “accidents” stopped after that. He overheard one of those that perpetually tried to hurt or trip him up lamenting to his fellow trainees that it wasn’t worth it anymore, because, as he said, “He doesn’t react, as if what I’m doing doesn’t even matter. I’d like to wipe the smug look off his face, but he’d probably ignore that, too.”

So, by the time two months at the Fort had come and gone, most of the deliberate attacks had disappeared, but the looks remained. Some of the newer arrivals, those who came after Larek was already there, seemed interested in talking to him, but after a few conversations that were actually quite pleasant, their minds were poisoned by the rumors that were spread around the Fort about him. He didn’t particularly care, though, because he wasn’t there to make friends; he was there to train – and that was exactly what he did.

A hyper-focused state became common for him throughout the days of training, and it was only through periodic meetings with Nedira every 7 days that kept him from becoming too entrenched in that state. She helped to keep his mind afloat and aware of the world around him, mainly by simply spending time with him and letting him know about any news that she’d picked up.

“I haven’t found my brother or anyone else yet, but there are some rumors that I’m following up with that might lead to him,” she told him at one point. “Information travels slowly through the Kingdom nowadays, and is often incomplete, but I’m starting to compile quite a bit of that information for the SIC headquarters here,” she explained.

“That’s good to hear!” he’d told her. “If you can figure out where we need to go after this to find him, that would help speed up the process.”

“How is the training coming, by the way?”

He’d already told her about his Stama Fusion at an earlier meeting. “It’s… phenomenal. I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about my own body, my stats, and how Stama worked before I came. I still have a long way to go before I’m as confident with Stama as I am with Mana and Fusions, but it’s getting there.”

It was at that point that she’d hesitated. “I, uh, shared some of the farming Fusions with the city. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Whatever it takes to feed all these people, I’m all for it. I created them to share with people, so I’d rather them get used than go to waste.”

“Yes, well, it almost didn’t happen because there was pushback over using them.” At his confusion, she’d explained. “Because they were Fusions. They have a weird aversion to using them here.” Larek explained what he’d learned from Torge, and she’d nodded in understanding.

That was all the real important news that she’d had to share throughout the entire two months he was there, but that was probably a good thing for Larek. If he had heard that one of his friends was found, he probably would’ve left in the middle of training, which would’ve hampered his development. Thankfully, once he passed a certain point, there wasn’t much more that was new that the Senior Instructor could teach him, only to improve upon what he had already learned.

For instance, thanks to his Strength and Body Training, Larek now had an almost perfect sense of his Strength, able to apply just the right amount for different tasks – something that he’d struggled with before. He could also tense up certain muscles to aid in deflecting damage to his flesh when attacked, and his body movements in avoiding attacks had improved monumentally. The application of both stats could always be improved, of course, but he had a fairly good idea of how to train his body so that he constantly got better – especially when his stats increased or were boosted.

From his Agility Training, Larek had improved his sense of balance to the point where he could walk over a thin wire without falling, could leap up to 15 feet vertically, and could contort himself into previously unheard of positions, all to navigate his way through the obstacle course along with most of the best trainees.

In Weapon Training, he continued to utilize the halberd as his main weapon, but Torge didn’t want him limited to a single type of weapon – unlike what most trainees had to settle for. The Senior Instructor learned earlier on that Larek’s development of Skills was incredibly fast compared to any other trainee, and utilized that fact to the fullest. Every single training weapon in the arsenal was utilized at one point or another, with at least 10 to 15 minutes with each one to familiarize himself with them. It turned out that this method of using different weapons in the same category, such as knives and swords and battleaxes, helped to increase his Bladed Weapon Expertise at a faster rate compared to using the same weapon over and over. The same went with clubs, maces, warhammers, and the like for Blunt Weapon Expertise, and so on.

Combat Awareness drilled into him a need for constant awareness, and using his hyper-focused state to focus on a larger area around him actually seemed to work to give him a better idea of what was going on around him. It took some time to maintain that state while actively trying to defend or attack, but after about a month of constantly attempting to do both at once, he found himself anticipating and reacting to Torge’s attacks before he even knew what he was doing.

And at least 10% of the time, it actually worked! He still needed to improve his success rate in defending himself, but he had at least been taught how; now it was only a matter of putting it into practice.

Through it all, he also had the occasion to improve his Body Regeneration Skill, though it wasn’t really a choice. He was beaten or cut up so many times during the training that he barely acknowledged the temporary pain anymore, to the point where he could be severely injured and not even be aware of it before he took a step and had his leg give out underneath him. After that happened, Torge had him add his awareness of his own body into his hyper-focused state, and it helped him learn when to back off and let himself heal or push through the minor wounds if they weren’t debilitating.

Throughout all the physical training, there was one thing that Larek added in that was actually able to counter the Senior Instructor’s superior experience and knowledge: Pattern Manipulation. At first, he had simply constructed a Pattern shield to block and even smash into the Drekkin, who had no idea what to do about the sudden construct. It didn’t surprise the Fusionist when the wily Instructor eventually figured out ways to get around his shield, either through use of Battle Arts or a combination of multiple weapons, such as throwing a knife while attacking with a spear, which he could only successfully block one or the other.

In addition, at first Larek couldn’t move all that much while he had the Pattern shield active, which was also a disadvantage when it came to a fight, but as he practiced more and more, he was able to begin actively attack and defend himself with his training weapons. After that came an improvement with his focus, allowing him to move at about a quarter of his top speed while maintaining the Pattern construct; following that, he eventually learned how to create two active Pattern constructs, though he quickly learned that they had to be identical in order to maintain focus.

But just the other day, he had a breakthrough as Pattern Manipulation reached his current Skill maximum of 65. Once that happened, it was as if an epiphany flowed through his mind, and he could now have two different Pattern constructs. He could now maintain a Pattern shield and an axe, as that was what he was still the most familiar with, and could maintain his focus on it better than anything else he experimented with.

His combat awareness suffered while he had most of his focus on the Pattern constructs, but he was able to partially attack and defend while they were active. Only practice and an increase in his Pattern Manipulation Skill – once he had enough Aetheric Force to raise its maximum – would bring him to the point where he could fight unhindered, but he could at least maintain a single construct and be decent in a fight.

In all, Larek had made incredible gains in the two months he had been at the Fort. A simple look at his Status quantified it accurately enough, but it was all the knowledge about fighting and techniques that really made an enormous difference.

Level 40

Advancement Points (AP): 4/28

Available AP to Distribute: 2

Available Aetheric Force (AF): 415

Stama: 3360/3360

Mana: 4100/4100

Strength: 168 [336] (+)

Body: 168 [336] (+)

Agility: 168 [336] (+)

Intellect: 205 [410] (+)

Acuity: 140 [280] (+)

Pneuma: 3,024 [6,048]

Pattern Cohesion: 60,480/60,480

Mage Skills:

Spellcasting Focus Level 43[50]/50 (500 AF)

Magical Detection Level 45[55]/55 (550 AF)

Pattern Recognition Level 47[55]/55 (550 AF)

Pattern Manipulation Level 65/65 (650 AF)

Focused Division Level 56/65 (650 AF)

Multi-effect Fusion Focus Level 60/65 (650 AF)

Mana Control Level 62[70]/70 (700 AF)

Fusion Level 64[70]/70 (700 AF)

Pattern Formation Level 64[70]/70 (700 AF)

Martial Skills:

Unarmed Fighting Level 10[20]/35 (350 AF)

Ranged Weapon Expertise Level 10/20 (200 AF)

Blunt Weapon Expertise Level 15/35 (350 AF)

Stama Subjugation Level 20/35 (350 AF)

Throwing Level 24[34]/35 (350 AF)

Bladed Weapon Expertise Level 25[35]/35 (350 AF)

Dodge Level 30[35]/35 (350 AF)

Pain Immunity Level 20/20 (N/A)

Body Regeneration Level 47[50]/50 (500 AF)

When he was wearing his Fusion-filled clothes, the differences were amazing. He had increased his Skills so many times that he managed to earn a total of four personal Levels, giving him an additional 106 AP to allocate to his stats. Placing 35 into each of his Martial stats for a total of 105 left him with 2 to play with at some point after he already had 1 left over from his previous Level increase. His Mage Skills – other than Pattern Manipulation – didn’t budge at all, but every Martial Skill other than Pain Immunity increased at least a few Levels.

But those improvements in most of his Skills and stats were almost nothing compared to his efforts with his Stama and his Battle Arts. The sight of his Stama Subjugation Skill being at Level 20 was only part of the story.

The work and effort he put into developing his Martial abilities would change the way he fought forever.