Ruthless ~ 27!

~ 27 ~

It took a while to make their way through the damaged buildings, but Joe was pleased to see that any of them that didn’t need to be torn down looked shiny and new at the end. The main reason this process had taken so long was that the materials seemed to be torn apart and placed into the structure bit by bit; so much so that it looked like the building was growing instead of being built.

“Looks like non-processed materials are fine,” Joe nodded at Hannah, “but they need to be ready for processing. The green wood didn’t get touched, and iron ore that hadn't been purified wasn't used either. Good call on testing that.”

The next portion went much faster, the building that had been the main target of fire being razed in under a minute. The recollected materials went into the sack, which went to Mike. Mike took the bag reverently and thanked the coven. “If we had needed to do that manually, it would have taken days. Here’s a bonus from me.”

You have gained 1,000 contribution points.

Hannah looked at the message they had all gained, then back at Mike. “How many points do you have that you can give them out like this?”

“I’m the vice guild leader.” Mike explained, seeing the understanding in her eyes, “I can give out whatever is needed for a job well done like this. Within reason, of course. I have to account for all of it with the guild, but the paperwork is pretty minimal. You all did a great thing for us, and I look forward to seeing what you can do in the days to come!”

The group broke up, and Joe looked over the gains that he had gained for working on the buildings.

Class experience gained: 420 (100 for razing a building, 320 for repairing 8 buildings).

He was making good progress with his class, and was nearly halfway to level five. Deciding that he needed to work on more physical things, he went to train his strength and constitution. We walked to the training ground, got into position, and the hot coals started being shoveled onto the shield he held in the air. 

Ten minutes in, his arms were burning. Literally and figuratively. Twenty, and he was getting ready to move on with his day. Thirty, and the coals were getting much hotter. At forty-five, he almost tossed the shield to the side and moved on. His willpower refused to let that happen, which meant that he lasted for the entire time required, just about fifty-five minutes.

Characteristic training completed! Strength and constitution +1! These cannot be increased through training for 24 hours!

Skill increase: Artisan Body (Beginner 0). You have taken a solid step upon the path of refining your body and mind! Bonus: From this point forward, threshold bonuses for characteristics will give you a small percentage bonus to earned rewards.

Joe sat on the grass panting as he looked over his notifications. The trainer was glaring at him; Joe had earned a reputation as a quitter, and none of them liked to work with him on his training. “You had five more minutes before you were halfway there, man! Why are you doing double training if you can't handle it? Go pump some iron or settle into a vat of water over fire if you need to do one at a time!”

Joe ignored the grumbling, though it was nice to know the options. Why had the training taken so long? Normally he was done in half that… right. He had gotten to the next threshold for both of those! The time required to train them had doubled! If he didn't have his four times boost, the training would take two hours apiece. With that bonus coupled with his Artisan Body, each characteristic took… twenty-seven minutes? Obviously, since he was training two at a time, fifty-four minutes. 

Joe looked over his skill, and was really tempted to start dumping skill points into it, but forced himself not to do so. Not yet, at least. He got dressed and walked away trying to think about what he should be doing. His team had split up temporarily in the wake of the attack, each of them feeling the need to focus on their abilities and boost skill levels. Joe hadn't fought it in the slightest, he was feeling the same as they were.

“You there!” A voice shook Joe from his thoughts. A dark-haired man looked at him with a serious face. He was wearing leathers, and had an odd array of weapons with him. “You look like someone that could use some extra training! How would you like to join me, Weaponmaster Everard, for some demonstrations?”

“No, that’s okay, thanks though.” Joe walked past the man, who clearly hadn't been expecting to be ignored.

“What’s the matter? All I need is someone to use as an example, all you need to do is learn!” The man, likely ‘Weaponmaster Everard’, calmly called after him. “I need a chance to showcase my teaching ability. First lesson, no charge?”

“Please find someone else to use as a punching bag.” Joe looked at Everard sourly, the man was walking with him now. “I see that you seem to have decided upon me. Why?”

“You are a well-known figure in this guild.” Everard told him without hesitation. “Not only are you known as a Mage, but no one that I have asked has seen you use a weapon as more than a spellcasting medium. You have access to the highest members of the guild and could help me start my own Training Stalle here. And…”

“So, you were looking for me specifically.” Joe stopped and faced the man. “Go on, what’s the last bit?”

“Frankly, people are kinda excited to see you get beaten into submission.” Everard shrugged at the expression on Joe’s face. “I asked who they respected, but wanted to see get whooped. Seventy percent of the time, that’s you.”

“Oh, lovely. Let’s go and show my blood to the crowd.”

“Excellent.”

“No. I’m more likely to ban you from the town than join you right now.” Joe was exasperated by this conversation.

“Five free lessons? Half price from there on?” Everard raised a brow. “I also heard you were a miser, so I prepared various discounts.”

“Have you ever been hit by lightning?”

Everard shook his head, still unsmiling. “Look. Have you ever needed to use a weapon, but didn't know how? Mana isn't endless, and fights can go a long time. Why don't you let me try to train you? If we do it publicly, it’ll even be free.”

Everard’s words echoed what Joe’s thoughts had been not too long ago. Still he was feeling like resisting the temptation. He pulled out his Mystic Theurge staff, and handed it to the Weaponmaster. “Could you teach me to use this in combat?”

“Huh.” Everard flipped the staff a few times, then started swinging and swiping with it. Joe winced when it cracked against the ground, and took it back possibly faster than needed. “Sure can, but how specific do you want that training? That’s only gonna be good for a few more levels. The rarity is high, but the materials themselves are only… meh. If you do any dungeons, or go to any higher-scale custom shops, you could replace this with a snap. So… my recommendation would be ‘polearm’ training.”

“That would cover you for spears, staves, and halberds.” Everard cracked a small smile for the first time since Joe had met him. “Whaddaya think? Staff Mastery would be better for that specific weapon, but I stand by my words. I also think it would appease a few of your people to take a few hits in front of them. Ya know. Let them release steam without attacking you by themselves.”

“You think that this would be that useful?” Joe knew that he was letting himself be convinced. It wasn't for the discounts. Totally  not. He went along with the Weaponmaster when the man gave a somber nod. Joe was led to the square, where a large group of people were already waiting. A few cheered, and some even passed coins around. 

“Are you ready to see him bleed?” Everard bellowed into the crowd, who all seemed to be ready to reply instantly.

“Yes!” came the reply, sending some soot flying.

“Yeesh.” Joe muttered as he looked at all the people that wanted to see him in pain. He straight-up had no idea who most of them were. 

“Raise your staff, position yourself like this… left foot back a little further, there you go.” Everard was speaking in a calm voice that only Joe could hear over the jeering crowd. “I’m gonna hit you now, so try to block over your head.”

Everard moved, and Joe swung to block an attack from above, only for the weighted wooden sword Everard was using to crack against his ribs. Joe took no damage, since his Exquisite Shell was active, but he turned cold eyes on Everard, who shrugged. “Lesson one, don't trust your opponent to let you know what they are about to do. Turn off your shield, or this will mean nothing.”

Joe really didn't want to do that, as the ring of people around him looked like they were about to rush over and beat him themselves. Still, he had come this far, and there was literally nothing that he couldn't recover from. Exquisite Shell came off, dissolving into motes of light. “Good. Left hand higher on the staff. You aren't using it to channel anything right now, you are using this for attack and defense. Keep your hands apart so I can't break them both with a single hit.”

Then the sword started swinging. With a crunch, it slammed into Joe’s left pinky finger. If he hadn’t crossed into the new tier of constitution, it would have been paste. As it was, Joe got a notification that it had broken. He yelped, and the crowd roared approvingly. Everard swept his sword low, and Joe found himself looking up at the sky. “Watch that footwork.”

Blow after blow rained down, not intended to do too much damage, but in a fight every one of the strikes would have made him vulnerable to a finishing blow. Here, it was simply humiliating. He focused on the sword coming at him, and saw something… different. There was the faintest of lines in the air behind the sword, and as the wood flashed out and hit him again, he saw that the sword sunk into him before rebounding.

“Illusion?” Joe muttered.

“Oh, saw that, did you?” Everard evenly replied. “Good. Just another trick. Good luck on this one.”

The faint line was in front of the sword this time, and Joe realized that Everard was changing his tactics just slightly enough that it was almost impossible to adjust for. Still, Joe managed thanks to his higher-than-Everard-expected dexterity.

*Crack*.

Joe blocked the attack, surprising both of them. He didn't block the next hit, this time to his wrist. Still, he felt somewhat satisfied at what he saw.

You are training under the tutelage of an Expert! Skill gain modifiers: Expert teacher, Ritualist skill increase bonus, Pathfinder’s Hall skill increase bonus.

Skill gained: Polearm Mastery (Novice VI). This skill gives a small boost to use of all polearms in melee combat, both attack and defense. Impacts Halberds, Spears, Staves, and any other weapons that fall under the broad ‘polearms’ category.  +1n% accuracy, damage dealt, and damage blocked when using polearms, where n = skill level.

Joe got back to his feet, adjusting his stance and the way he held his weapon slightly. Everard nodded slightly and addressed the crowd, “Just like that, I can take a Mage that carries a stick… into a warrior who specializes in staff combat! Come train any weapon you want to learn at Weaponmaster Everard’s Stalle, hopefully opening soon!”

There was a smattering of applause, but it cut off quickly. The crowd didn’t disperse, much to Everard’s confusion. “Oi, keep goin’! He’s barely bruised!”

Everard shook his head and opened his mouth, but the others shouted agreement for the first voice. He shrugged and turned back to Joe. “I won't kill you, or let them do it, but I need public opinion on my side, and this seems like the way to make it happen.”

“Dude.” Joe weakly replied as the sword came at him much faster than before. 

*Crack*, *crack*, *crack*.

You have taken 43 blunt damage! Stunned!

Joe stumbled as the world seemed to turn dark. Wrist, knee, temple. Joe dropped, head swimming. Wanting to protect himself, he thought of using Acid Spray, but decided that using something like that in a spar like this would be seen as far too ruthless. Everard had been correct, people seemed to have some serious animosity for him; no need to pile onto that.

He slapped a hand to his chest and healed up, then sprang to his feet. Everard chuckled, “Looks like he can take more damage than we expected!”

The group cheered at that, and Joe swallowed deeply. He narrowed his eyes, and set his sights on getting stronger. If he had to fight, he would learn as much as he could. Joe took strike after strike, but almost every time he managed to block one, his skill level would increase. Each time his health started to drop too far, he healed. Soon Everard was frowning. “If you don't go down, I’ll need to make you go down.”

“Don’t wanna waste my first free training session.” Joe had blood pouring out of a busted lip. “I’m cheap, remember?”

The next hits were much harder and faster, and Joe was forced to focus on healing himself until Everard backed off. “Seriously, Joe. Just stop.”

“Can’t do it at this point.” Joe replied after he heard people calling for Everard to bash his face in.

“Sorry about this, then.”

Soul Forge is complete!

The message blocked Joe’s vision, and he went tumbling one way as a tooth went another. The crowd gasped as Joe heard a sound from Everard that he had wanted to hear since this started:

“Ow!”