An Unbound Soul

The fight started exactly the same way as last year. Almost. He pulled back his bow without an arrow, but I didn't even try to respond. I let him fire, and smirked as the black bolt of mana went whistling past his head instead of mine, thudding into the barrier behind him.

"You missed," I called.

Zachary seemed to have no idea what had just happened, which wasn't a surprise; mages attuned to space affinity didn't normally become delvers, so he would have been unlikely to have encountered [Distortion] before. If he hadn't had the misfortune of being drawn against me first, he might have had a chance to see it in action and plan accordingly, but luck was against him.

"I assume you just missed me deliberately?" he asked.

"Yes. That was [Distortion], a space affinity spell. It redirects ranged attacks," I answered.

"Hah, looks like this time is my loss, then. But I'm still up for testing my melee skills against yours."

Until I'd gained [Analysis] and started using it on lower-level people, I'd thought that all combat artes were flashy, obvious things, like Xander's barrier and giant glowing sword slash, but now I knew that wasn't the case. Cluma's [Backstab] could be used against any target that hadn't detected her, and caused increased health damage. Her [Armour Break] let a normal swing of her weapon penetrate armour with greater ease. Neither arte had visible effects, they both just twisted physics a bit, and gave an otherwise normal attack a bit more oomph.

In the context of a friendly spar, most artes didn't make sense; we were trying to land blows on each other, and the amount of damage dealt with a blow was irrelevant. Between the limited effects and the reduced number of useful artes, I hadn't even realised last year that my opponents were using them, but now that Cluma had clued me in on some of the options, I noticed the swings that were just a little faster than they should have been, or blows that seemed to have too much momentum behind them.

If I do decide to make delving my vocation, [Apprentice Fighter] is going to have to be my next class. I'd already been considering it, but the effect of [Novice Delver] made it practically a no-brainer. I'd only need to gain four levels to max it, I'd get some artes for free, which thanks to [Weapon Proficiency: Universal] would be very widely ranged, and thanks to [Survivor 2] I would hopefully get health boosts going as far as rank three.

I danced around the arena with Zachary, but this year my fully formed weapon style and more powerful buffs left him unable to launch any effective attacks. He managed to evade my own swings for a couple of minutes, before an attack projected with [Far Reach] caught him from behind.

He was the strongest fighter I'd fought the previous year, and was probably the strongest competitor in my group this year too. Given the ease with which I'd just beaten him, twice, I doubted I'd gain as much this year as the last. Even so, I'd take whatever levels I could, and this session hadn't been completely without its rewards.

Skill [Far Reach] advanced to level 14
Skill [Distortion] advanced to level 10

If my rank two buffs were overkill, I'd just need to try to give my rank one spells a workout instead, and get as many to fifteen as I could; if there was another rank to [Skilled], I wanted to be ready for it.

The following day I fought a low levelled [Warrior], and checking his stats with [Analysis], I could see that using any buffs or magic at all would be overkill. Deciding to experiment with [Weapon Proficiency: Universal], I took a wooden sword, defeating him in a few swings, and not earning anything for my trouble.

"Since when do you use a sword?" asked Anton as I made my way back to the gaggle of competitors.

"I have [Weapon Proficiency: Universal]. I can use anything," I answered.

"The hell? How do you get that?" asked Zachary, the other competitors also staring wide-eyed.

"Buying at least ten weapon proficiencies. It gives you the [Flexible Combatant] title, and weapon skills all merge together."

"Bah. What a waste of soul points. You're a real weirdo, you know."

"I am vaguely aware, yes," I admitted, "but I also have [Jack of all Trades 2] so weapon proficiencies are free."

The next few days involved no interesting opponents, nor did I obtain any gains. While stats and skills weren't quite everything, there was no denying that they played an absolutely massive role. There was simply no challenge against most rank twos anymore, at least not unless they pulled some interesting trick I hadn't seen before; I needed people around my own strength. Perhaps this tournament needed to subdivide the rank two groupings a bit; those on their first rank two class and those with multiple would be a decent start. Or just sort the whole tournament by combined level instead of rank.

Cluma apparently had a similar problem, having won all of her battles with ease. I was actually a little surprised at that; while her stats were impressive, her skill levels still had a way to go, with her artes and weapon style skills still on the low side and only the basic proficiency maxed. Then again, Lee was level nine too, and hadn't maxed anything. I could see why no-one bothered with [Skilled] if that was the normal rate of progress.

On day six, my opponent was Anton, who had yet to win a single round, and his sad little walk into the arena when we got called was totally crushing. The referee called the match start, and he gripped his knife, not even attempting to use his bow against someone he knew could use [Far Step] or [Distortion]. Looking at him like that, with nothing but resigned acceptance in his eyes, I couldn't bring myself to attack him.

"Tell you what," I said, "this might do more damage to your ego than just beating you normally, but it'll at least give you a chance..." I waved my hand, and cast [Strength], [Dexterity] and [Endurance] on him, causing him to stare at me in confusion.

"What did you just do? I feel..." he waved his arm around a few times, then jumped up and down. "Wow, is this what you higher level people feel like all the time?"

I was used to my buff spells switching on and off, but to him who didn't have any physical stats above twenty, it more than doubled all of them. I could imagine it being a bit of a buzz. Despite his lower skill levels, having his stats boosted so high made him a far more interesting opponent, and I was forced to use [Far Step] a couple of times for evasion. The fight ended immediately once I used [Far Reach] though; his wisdom hadn't been boosted, and all the dexterity in the world didn't help if he couldn't spot and respond to my attack.

ding
Skill [Far Step] advanced to level 15

Totally worth it. Maybe I'll have to start buffing all of my opponents.

The next day I was up against Isla, who for obvious reasons wasn't permitted her lightning glove. I'd never fought a [Water Mage] before, but she turned out to have very little offensive capability. Being a mage, there wasn't really anything she could do with my buff magic, either. It ended as another boring day for me.

That day, Cluma scored her first loss. She was up against someone who had completed [Commoner] and [Apprentice Fighter] and had then taken [Apprentice Mage]. I'd never seen someone with classes from both sides of the fence before, and would have been very interested in watching that match. It was a pity both of our groups ran in the morning. Fortunately, Cluma wasn't hurt by her loss, seeing it as nothing more than a hurdle to overcome.

On day eight I was pitted against Bluvre. I'd seen the reason for his presence here among the rank twos on the first day, when I'd hit him with [Analysis], and [Appraisal] showed that he had gained another level since then.

Bluvre, Beastkin, Ranger (4/44)

Similar to Zachary, who'd gone from [Ranger] to [Warrior], Bluvre had gone [Scout] to [Ranger]. He also had the advantage over Zachary that he'd seen my [Distortion] in action, and didn't even try his bow, coming at me with a whip. A whip was a completely different weapon to rigid swords and staves, and only a flail came anywhere close to the way that the movement of the weapon couldn't be trivially predicted by the movement of the user.

I'd never unlocked a whip proficiency, but that didn't prevent it being bundled up with my universal proficiency. I'd been caught out by the whip-wielding fourth floor dungeon boss, after failing to predict his movements, but now I found just how helpful a proficiency could be on the defensive side. I knew exactly how the whip was going to move and what I needed to do to evade.

Bluvre was no slouch at evading either, and was unfazed by my [Far Reach] powered attacks. A whip wasn't a weapon with which one could parry or block, so evasion was obviously what he was practised in. And then he pulled a move I didn't expect, wrapping his whip around my staff, and yanking it from my grasp. It clattered to the ground, and I immediately moved to grab it with [Far Reach], but he swung the whip again, leaving me with insufficient time.

This time I decided to try my new trick. Two could play the disarming game, so I dodged the strike, then grabbed at the whip with [Far Reach], as Bluvre tried to withdraw it. The whip grasped in my hand, I invoked [Item Box], causing the whole thing to vanish. I pulled it back out of my storage, this time holding it by the handle, then swung it back at Bluvre. The surprised dogkin failed to evade the strike from his own weapon, ending the match.

ding
Skill [Item Box] advanced to level 6
Class [Spatial Mage] advanced to level 5

Success! My first class level since I beat the dungeon.

"And what sort of magic was that?" he complained.

"[Item Box]," I answered. "If you let me get a good grip on your weapon, I can steal it."

"That's... Sheesh, spatial mages are cheats."

The last two fights were once again uninteresting, a pair of mid levelled scouts. I buffed them both, then used my rank one buffs on myself, but ironically it was mostly the rank two spells that benefited.

ding
Skill [Strength] advanced to level 15
Skill [Endurance] advanced to level 15
Skill [Minor Endurance] advanced to level 13

With zero losses, this year the spot in the final was mine. Hopefully, the next week would prove more interesting; my group had three competitors over level forty, so there should be at least one in every group. The whole final would likely be made up of people who'd completed a rank two class already, making it far more of a challenge.

Cluma was at nine wins and one loss, with three more to play. I had a day off before my finals started, giving me a chance to go and watch one of her matches, sneaking in as one of Cluma's two permitted spectators. Unsurprisingly, the second spot was taken up by Clana, although she didn't turn up until the first three fights had finished.

The rank one fights were largely unimpressive, so I turned my attention to her instead.

"So, what do you think Camus and his gang make of the recent dungeon changes, then?"

"What changes?"

"Ah, I'd expected Cluma to have mentioned," I said, speaking quietly. As a catkin, Clana would still be able to hear me, and I didn't want to disturb the other spectators. "They seem to be getting less dangerous. Someone in our dungeon supposedly had their head crushed by an orc, but then woke up fully healed back on the surface. In some other dungeons, bosses have been replaced by puzzles. We're not really sure what's happening."

"Really?" she asked with a sigh. "In that case, Camus would have exactly the same reaction as me; to ask why now, and why not twelve years ago?"

Cluma's turn came around next, and we watched her take out a fighter. Cluma's dexterity was just way too high compared to the competition, and she evaded every blow with finesse, winning the fight with a single, well-aimed slice to his stomach. Clana had lucky timing there; a couple of minutes later and she'd have missed it. Or perhaps it was the other way around, and the organisers were waiting for her before holding Cluma's match?

"Why did you buy her delver's armour?" asked Clana once the match was over. "It wasn't necessary for this competition. I hear you wanted to take her into the dungeon..." She left the sentence hanging, her disapproval obvious.

"With the guild master," I clarified. "She would have had to try quite hard to even see a monster. Plus it's even less dangerous now, given that delvers apparently can't die. But to answer your first question, I bought it because I thought it would help to cheer her up. It worked, too. And she looks adorable."

Clana snorted. "Of course she's adorable; she's my daughter! But I'm glad she's happy again. She's no fool, and she worked out quickly that Camus had deliberately separated her from her friends. She was never quite the same after that, and when our restaurant failed, it hit her hard."

Clana left after that, more or less confirming she'd rushed over from Lord Reid's place during a break, and the organisers were arranging Cluma's matches around her. That was nice of them.

The remainder of the fights passed quickly. The girl who had beaten Cluma was up against a very unimpressive newbie mage, and won too easily for the fight to be worth watching. Some of the other fights were very close, but were too low level to be interesting without me knowing the competitors involved. Tomorrow my finals would start, and they should be far more challenging.