Chapter 326 - Quite Spell

~~AN~~

I've seen the comments about his Class choice and it's teased a little in this Chapter. It's not my intention to unnecessarily drag it out. You will get his full choices by Friday, just be patient.

~~

Chris

"What happened to calling me Uncle Topher, eh? I seem to remember you calling it out quite endearingly." I lectured as Anna attempted and failed to hit me with her icy training sword. Apparently, she had outgrown the nickname for me.

The swords we wielded were a far cry from the sticks we had once used and resembled actual swords. I was still working on the weight and balance, but the length and shape were spot on.

Now that Anna could use Skills and had a smattering of stat points, she could handle mundane ice easily enough. Her affinity helped, obviously, but even without it she would have been fine.

"That was before you resorted to physical abuse." The girl huffed out.

She had gotten cheekier with age. Now nearly a woman grown now.

"I'd hardly classify this as physical abuse, I don't even hit you that hard." I twirled the sword and readied for another go. My practice in the Dungeons was the main reason I stayed ahead on the technical side.

I would win handedly if I resorted to my superior speed or strength, but that would hardly be helpful for Anna.

"You forget, Uncle, that a light tap from you could kill someone, yes?" She snarked.

"Ah, then you are lucky I can control myself," I said. It was actually much harder than it looked to control. I'd spent a long time at my level cap which made it much easier to do so.

Now that I gained levels again, and my Strength could vary from day to day, I had to be extra careful. Not that I was gaining stat points that quickly. Levels in D-rank had glacially slowed, and I didn't use the word jokingly.

The amount of Essence needed to level once was... incredible. Those with Common Classes leveled at literally twice the speed. If they didn't get half the stat points and paltry skills by comparison, Common Classes would be able to shoot heads and tails above those of us with Rarer Classes just on leveling speed alone.

"I still don't understand what you see in these things," I waved the sword mockingly, "Give me a good hammer and I'll crush through the guard of any sword."

Now that she had grown up, Anna had become a more active participant in her training. When she first started, I had to watch what I said in case I influenced her in a way I didn't wish.

If I disparaged a certain weapon back then, while the chance was small, it was possible to push her towards something she wouldn't have chosen for herself.

That wasn't something I wished to do. Choosing a weapon and fighting style was up to oneself. It took me flailing around breaking axes until I started using hammers after all.

If she wanted to try her hand with swords, so be it.

"You just don't like them."

"You're right I don't like them!" I said. My grudge against the weapon grew the more I used it. It didn't fit well into my fighting style and I just personally didn't like it.

Plus it was fun to harp on it, as it was by far the most popular weapon choice. Maybe not in Frostheim, but nearly everywhere else.

Anna launched into a straightforward attack that I easily blocked. I could have countered a few times, but I held off to allow it to go a bit farther.

Understanding the Style wasn't as easy as I first assumed. They were easy to comprehend but difficult to master, and I was nowhere close to mastering it.

They reminded me of lightsaber forms, back in Star Wars. Oh, boy, does that show my age. Losing them was a travesty.

There were principles to them, in the few that I had read. One would be focused on relentless attacks while another was focused on a stalwart defense. While I disliked the sword, that didn't mean it wasn't versatile.

The Wolf Style focused on opportunistic attacks and warding off advances through movement. Similar to how a wolf would circle around looking for a weak point while also keeping its distance until it came time to attack.

Most of that came to footwork. Dancing around foes took a lot of training and experience to make sure that not only you made the right steps, but you also trusted your footing.

It was not how I was used to fighting. Why dodge when I could tank it? Why dance around when one good hit would end the fight?

While the style wasn't my favorite, I was learning it. The surprising thing was that it wasn't useless. While the form in its entirety didn't interest me, there were pieces of it that I liked. Certain moves or steps that could be repurposed.

What really made me consider buying one of my own for hammers was how effective it was. Anna went up against others her own age and there was a noticeable difference in skill. Not Skills, but technical skill.

We didn't have such a thing when we started. We were given pointy objects and thrown to the wolves. Literally. My first assumption of them was that they were unnecessary.

That was proving untrue.

Training Anna was highlighting some of the things we had missed out on. We had a rushed shotgun tutorial while she had years to get ready, making the two experiences wildly different.

The bout continued for a few more clashes but I swiftly ended it when Anna's footwork faltered. Her leap out of my range didn't take her far enough and I capitalized on it. Certain errors I would allow for the sake of training. Others... not so much.

"You're dead." The tip of my ice sword stopped inches in front of her chest.

"That's not fair–"

Anna stopped herself from saying it fully. She knew what my answer would be to her complaint.

She huffed and walked over to a nearby bench to sit down and catch her breath. Part of the reason I allowed smaller mistakes was so that the bout continued, forcing her to keep going. Tiredness was something to train just as much as the sword.

"What did the man from the weird Society want with you?" She finally said after her breath evened out.

I eyed her suspiciously, "And how do you know about that? Did you weasel it out of Sophia, I presume?"

"No..." She said unconvincingly.

Anna had also gotten nosier with age. I couldn't blame her, as there wasn't a lot of entertainment to speak of. There were performances by those musically inclined, but there wasn't the huge pipeline of things to consume like before.

"Nothing important." I said, "He just wanted to dredge up old history."

"Speaking of history," Anna bluntly segued, "I was reading about possible Classes in the library before my birthday..."

I already knew where this was going.

"How come you haven't recorded your latest options?" She asked. "Both Mom and Dad did. Even Austin did! I understand not putting in your current Class, but not even the options you didn't choose?"

"What's got you so curious about them, hmm?" I said, "D-rank is quite a ways off for you."

"Just wondering is all. You're the only one with Legendary options and reading about them is cool." She said, but it was more like she wanted to look ahead and fantasize about what she would get.

While it sounded bad, I didn't want her to get the same Classes as I had. That would mean she did things similar to what I had done to get them, and not all of my deeds were good.

There was one Class choice that noticeably stuck out. Well, two, if you looked back and added Chilling Death of Helheim from E-rank.

Doing what I had to Lakeshore wasn't what I wished for her future.

"Fine, I'll make you a deal." She perked up immediately, "If you jump to Rare straight away in G-rank, I'll tell you about them."

She smiled widely, "You promise?"

"I promise."

It was a feat I hadn't accomplished before. I only jumped to Uncommon during my first evolution. None of our Family jumped so high so fast. It wouldn't be impossible for her, not with everything we had at our disposal now, but it would be challenging.

It was also good motivation.

___

Things were... good. For the first time in a long time, there wasn't an urgent fire to put out.

After helping Marcus, he was able to solidify his position and hold out fine. With the damage I had done to the Reservation, the forces they fielded were diminished enough he would be fine in his defensive battle against both Factions.

There wasn't a whole lot for me to do.

No one came rushing to visit asking for help against demons. No news of magical Obelisks that sprang up in the night. The only thing on the potential horizon was the occasional trader telling us of the tensions and battles in the South.

About things far enough away that they didn't much matter.

It felt odd that so many things had happened in the first two years, and then next to nothing in the last three. Going from one big event to the next made having nothing looming over me... uncomfortable.

There were times it felt like I wasn't doing enough even though that didn't make any sense. Doing enough for what? Sure, there was the faint possibility someone would try to attack us like Lakeshore did, but I was confident enough now that I could handle it.

There was also the Demon Formation I had put down. It was watched every day to make sure no new Summonings took place nearby, but that threat was mostly contained.

Or as contained as it could be. I could hardly scan the whole planet after all.

The Dungeons provided a daily intake of Essence and I was slowly moving through the levels. There was still some time before I needed to start considering the next body level.

My mana level and Laws could use a boost, but I was already spending much of my free time on them when I could. The jump to Tier 3 was larger than the one to Tier 2.

I even had the time to slow down and focus on the things I hadn't before. I spent much of it before my evolution breaking down my Profession and understanding it from the ground up, but now I could focus on other things I had put off.

Using [Frozen Rift] not for battle, but for insight. Training [Ice Manipulation] and the newly gained [Wind Manipulation]. And a bunch of other little things I had never had time for in the past.

I knew the spell would eventually be broken, but I wasn't sure what the cause would be.

Peaceful times were supposed to be prosperous, but I couldn't help but wonder when the next time would come when I needed to don my armor and fight once more.