The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 32

Chapter 32

“Trainee Larek!  Move to the center of the circle and prepare for your evaluation!” Instructor Wendie shouted.

As the slightly taller-than-average man walked from the edge of the circle toward its center, Instructor Torge was already watching his movements. He had found over the years that a lot of information about someone, and especially a Martial, could be gained from something as simple as walking.  There was a lot more that could be assessed through different means, of course, but the normally innocuous act of moving from one place to another was something that most people ignored when evaluating the potential of trainees.

But not Torge. He’d been an Instructor at Fort Hilltower for nearly 20 years, one of the few original Instructors from before the changes occurred over the last few years, and was now the only Instructor at the Fort that hailed from another land. As a Drekkin, he was one of the few members of his race in all the Kingdom, as his people didn’t leave their underground world underneath the desert of Lowenthal very often. The sunlight was normally detrimental to them, not only blinding them with its powerfully bright rays, but also damaging their scaly skin when they were exposed to it for long.

His Martial transformation eliminated those problems in Torge, thankfully. As for the reason he stuck around the Fort instead of going back home, as many of the other Instructors had after the Apertures began to expand around the world, he had no reason to leave. All his nestmates had perished long ago, and his only family – a word he had adopted since arriving in the Kingdom – was those at the Fort. If he had his wish, he would continue training new Martials at Hilltower until the day he died… preferably many years into the future.

And this man, this Larek, was exactly why he loved being an Instructor. It wasn’t the fact that Wendie had mentioned that this particular trainee was unusual, because they’d had plenty of unusual trainees over the last few years. It also wasn’t the fact that he already had at least 30 Strength to have been able to open the front doors, a hidden test for trainees that had been around for as long as the Fort to prove that graduates had what it took to join the SIC.

Such a thing wasn’t exactly common, especially when they had individuals that had already been trained somewhat before arriving, but they did have occasional trainees that were naturally strong and had already passed that threshold upon their arrival.

No, it wasn’t anything he was told about this particular trainee that made him stand up a little straighter and pay better attention to the young man. Torge was standing with both Instructor Wendie and Instructor Hasat outside of the circle as they would be evaluating the new arrival, but he wasn’t sure if they saw what he did when Larek simply walked into the circle.

Restrained power.  A lot of restrained power.

To his experienced eye, it was obvious in the man’s deliberate steps, the careful way he held himself, and from the almost imperceptibly quick twitch of his eyes as he took in his evaluators. There was also a confidence in his gait that wasn’t born from arrogance, as they typically saw in most trainees that were sent to them; instead, it was as if the man instinctually knew that he could take care of himself if he was ever in danger. It was a rare quality to see in a trainee, especially in one that hadn’t been around for at least a decade, and it was – to put it lightly – intriguing to see.

He was even further intrigued when the trainee arrived in the center of the circle and looked at the evaluators, only for his gaze to turn to surprise as he looked at Torge.  Now, being a Drekkin and knowing that very few of his people lived within the Kingdom, he had endured the surprised stares of countless trainees over the years, but this was different. This trainee’s look of surprise wasn’t at seeing someone of a different race, but one that said, “What is a Drekkin doing here?”

That type of response was unusual in and of itself, but with everything else he’d taken in from simply watching the man walk, Torge was both confused about this young man and excited to discover the answer to the mystery that surrounded him. This should be an interesting evaluation.

Wendie spoke up again as soon as the trainee was in position; this time, it was to explain what they were about to do.

“This is your evaluation. Previously, this process was undergone by third, fourth, and fifth-year trainees to assess their progress and identified where they needed to improve in order to graduate. Now, however, this evaluation is performed upon any new trainees and repeated every three months to determine if any changes in training are needed.”

The man nodded at this, his hands at the sides of his fairly nice-looking cloth pants. The Fort used to put every brand-new trainee into matching clothes to better identify them, but after trade caravans practically dried up from around the Kingdom over the last year, their normal supplier was no longer able to get any of their uniforms to them. As a result, they abandoned the process except in cases where the trainees didn’t have any extra clothes or their own armor, and then they would be able to borrow some of the few sets they had while they were training. Otherwise, they were allowed to use whatever they had brought with them.

Which was the case here. Torge just hoped that the trainee had another set with him, because this set was probably going to be in rough shape after the evaluation.

As Instructor Wendie resumed her speech, something he’d heard countless times before and could now easily ignore, Torge continued his own assessment of this unusual man. The way he stood, with his hands hanging lethargically by his sides and his feet nearly touching each other, it was obvious to the Drekkin that Larek wasn’t an experienced fighter. Sure, the man was still brimming with confidence, but Torge sensed no sign of what he liked to call battle competency. Someone could be strong, fast, and durable, but without battle competency, someone who was weaker and slower could overcome them with simple tactics, techniques, and situational awareness. Of course, it could be that the man was deliberately downplaying his abilities, but he doubted it; the lack of competency was tough to fake when it was already ingrained in someone.

To find out if any of this was correct, he’d have to wait until the actual evaluation.

“Before we start, let me explain what it is we are going to evaluate,” Wendie was saying while he had been staring at the trainee. “The process is broken down into six separate assessements, each of them different but equally important aspects of being a competent Martial.

“The first is an assessment of your basic stats. This doesn’t mean needing to know the actual numbers on your Status, but is focused more on how you effectively apply those stats, both individually and as a whole. Someone could have a thousand Strength, but if they simply flail around and hope to hit something with their superior strength, then they aren’t effectively applying it to the situation. At the same time, we also encourage different types of stat distributions depending on the Specializations you are interested in, though that is a different assessment.

“The second assessment similar to the first, but it focused on your actual combat ability. How do you react when being attacked? What is your situational awareness like, and do you have a feel for the flow of combat? Are there any particular tactics that you prefer to use in a fight, or are you simply hoping to survive and get lucky with your strikes? These questions, and more, can be somewhat answered during this evaluation; I say somewhat, because when faced in an actual life-or-death situation against a powerful monster, your ability to defend yourself in a controlled environment can’t really compare. Still, this assessment will at least give us an idea of what to expect from you.

“The third assessment is focused around your Martial Skills, and whether you are effectively applying them in combat. Someone with a Level 10 Bladed Weapon Expertise may sound like they know what they are doing with a sword, but are they actually wielding that Skill to the best of their abilities? That’s what we’re going to find out.

“Assessment number four is concerned with your Stama. Each Martial should have had their Stama unlocked before they were even sent here, except in very rare cases, so we will be testing your application of the energy through the use of Stama Subjugation.

“The fifth assessment is similar to the previous one, as it concerns Battle Arts. Many new trainees, even if they have access to their Stama, typically haven’t had a chance to learn any Battle Arts by this point; for those who have managed to learn some, we’ll evaluate how well they apply their Stama to them, whether they are wasteful in their use, and are using them at the most opportune times. This assessment will become more important through your training, as we don’t expect new trainees to have access to any at this point.

“The last assessment has to do with Specializations. Not any particular Specialization, of course, but based on an evaluation of your previous assessments, we would like to see what would be a good fit for you going forward. Are you a front-line fighter that wants to get into the thick of things and inflict as much damage as possible? Do you prefer to defend against attacks, protecting your fellow group members while keeping a monster’s attention on you? Would you rather clash with your target from an unexpected direction, quickly inflicting damaging strikes before retreating so as not to suffer from a powerful counterattack? Or is using a bow more your style, inflicting damage from afar, crippling your target with precise shots while providing emergency support for your fellow group members?

While this evaluation doesn’t lock you into a particular Specialization and you can always change or expand upon it later, this will at least give us – and you – a better idea of what we should concentrate on in your training.

“Do you have any questions before we begin?”

Torge watched as the trainee thought about it for a few seconds before he asked a question. Two of the most common questions at this point were, “Will it hurt?” and – for the more arrogant ones – “What happens if I’m too strong for you to evaluate?”; the answer to the first was always yes, while the second was ignored except for a few sniggers on the Instructors’ parts.

It was always humorous to watch that confidence fade away once the evaluation actually started. They weren’t Instructors for no reason, after all.

Larek, on the other hand, surprised him yet again – though he supposed he should’ve expected it based on what he’d seen thus far.

“Do you have a spare set of clothing I can wear during the evaluation?”

Instructor Hasat chuckled darkly. “Don’t want to get those nice clothes dirty, huh? You probably should’ve thought about that before you came out here.” The Kingdom-born man had a bit of a mean streak to his personality, but he was a competent trainer. Unfortunately, with how things were in the world, competent was about average for their Instructors at this point. Thankfully, Wendie was one of the better colleagues that Torge had worked with over the years.

Larek shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I just want this evaluation to be a more accurate assessment of my abilities.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Hasat asked, his attitude now a bit more hostile than was necessary. Then again, Torge wanted to know the same thing.

“I have, uh, some Fusions on these clothes that would hinder the evaluation.”

Fusions? This man is even more of a mystery than I thought.

Unlike some of his current colleagues, who knew of Fusions but hadn’t used them much in the past, the Drekkin Instructor was very familiar with them. In fact, they even had one of the healing Fusions that had been gifted to the Fort something like five years ago after the Scission attack which precipitated many of the recent changes in the Kingdom. There used to be more of them, but they had all been taken away by the SIC to use in other places, and the one that they had been allowed to keep was currently considered too valuable to use casually.  If he remembered correctly, it had been over a year since it had been used – and the fact that it still worked was a matter of both confusion and caution. Those in the SIC required them to hold off on using it anymore, as they were worried that repeated use would break it down, though Torge had his doubts. It seemed to him that it was working just as well as it had been when they first received it, but what did he know? He wasn’t a Mage or a Fusionist, after all.

Before Hasat could antagonize the trainee any further, Torge held up his hand. The other two Instructors deferred to him as the Senior Instructor, though he preferred not to lean on that designation more than necessary.  “We’ll get you some different clothes. I’d like to talk to you about those Fusions later, however,” he said. He could tell that Hasat wanted to protest, but the junior Instructor snapped his jaws shut rather than risk the Drekkin’s ire.

“Thank you.”

Wendie had already run inside, pushing her Agility to her limit, and in less than 30 seconds she was back and handing the trainee a set of dark grey pants and a shirt. As Larek took off his existing clothes, Torge watched as the man seemed to weaken significantly from what he could sense in him before. Was his confidence propped up by artificial means via whatever Fusions he was using? It was difficult to tell, but he didn’t think it was all fake – or courtesy of a few magical patterns.

Then again, it was difficult to tell without witnessing the trainee in action. Which, coincidentally, was exactly what they were about to do with the evaluation.

“Any other questions?” Instructor Wendie asked.

This time, Larek shook his head.

“Good. The evaluation will start now. Prepare yourself to defend against our attacks, using whatever means you have at your disposal.”

There was a moment of silence as the trainee stared back at the three Instructors, and Torge felt an excitement inside of him that hadn’t been present in a long, long time. He was fairly sure it was the anticipation of discovering something new, which was a spectacular event considering that he’d pretty much seen everything up to this point. He tensed up slightly as he prepared for the evaluation, before relaxing as he settled into what he liked to call assessment mode. It was time to test this young trainee and see if he could examine some of the mystery that surrounded him.

“Begin.”