B2 Ch. 34 Running up that Hill.

They set off at a ground-eating pace, with Hilbert leading the way, following some sort of magical compass.  The group stayed mostly silent as they ran, but Tilly found that he was a long way from feeling any exhaustion after the break they had just taken.  His Endurance had just gone up another twenty points, and he felt like he could probably run at this pace for the next twenty-four hours and only be winded at their destination.

This effortless feeling that marked his movements during moderate physical activity contrasted greatly with how quickly he had felt depleted near the end of the fight. It seemed like his abysmal Strength stat was holding him back whenever he operated at the leading edge of his physical ability.  However, if he kept himself to moderate output, he had the sense he could go on for a ridiculous amount of time.   He was beginning to think that if he could manage a greater balance between the two, his ability to continue to push himself in high-output scenarios would only increase as well. One more priority to think about.

But, looking back, he was sure that all of his Skill leveling and his ill-gotten increase in Strength from the increase in Corruption had made him a much more effective combatant.  Without them, even with the advantage of his blue flames, he would have been swamped much sooner by the faster, stronger Strigoi.

Kindle was also demonstrating a dramatic increase in capability after the fight, and Tilly could only imagine how having access to this new sort of fuel allowed her to advance.  Instead of riding on Tilly’s pack, she had taken to the air, gliding as an almost invisible spot high above them. She suddenly seemed to be much more at ease in the air than parched on him somewhere.  A change that he wasn’t sure if he liked yet.

‘How are you doing up there?  Are you sure you don’t need a rest?  I think Hilbert has some sort of tracker that lets him avoid scouting parties, so you don't have to keep watch all the time.’

He sent, once again marveling at their capability to suddenly converse in complete sentences.

‘We just rescued that peacock from a pack of the grey flightless. With your permission, I would like to remain above as another set of eyes.”- She replied with only a hint of exasperation, then he felt something like affection thrum through their bond, - “But I promise, I will tell you if I need a rest.  I can sense how strange my growth seems to you.  But this is my nature.  I cannot remember them, but I can feel hundreds of my previous lives reaching back in time. This is the way my kind grow.’

Tilly tried to dampen down the sadness at how much she had changed in such a short time, ‘Well I think it's incredible! And I saw that flame attack you did at the end.   What else you will be able to do?’  He asked, unable to keep from sending images of mythological phoenixes he had read about in the past.  Creatures that were the living embodiment of flame.  Symbols of immortality and resilience.

She considered the images he sent, and replied hesitantly, ‘Some of that feels correct, but I know for certain that I can and will die… It feels like an essential part of my cycle, and when the time comes, I will know how to best leverage my end.  Also, I don’t think I have ever been bonded before, and  I feel there will be unique options for us going forward as we both grow.  Things that none of my kind have ever experienced-’  on the tail end of that thought, Tilly caught the barest hint of a concept.  Something that she couldn’t put into words because there were none.

It felt sort of like a future invitation to become a whole that was greater than the sum of their separate parts. He wanted to ask more but got the sense that she was already pondering over the same questions, and he realized how jarring it must be for her to advance in leaps like this.  Catching hints of what had been and yet forced to remain in ignorance until reaching a future unknown threshold of power.

So he gave her space and smiled as he felt her return to the newfound joy of untethered flight.  She may have been maturing rapidly, but there was something innocent and captivating about her exultant joy at rediscovering her chief domain.  She was a creature of Air and Fire and today’s events had allowed her to discover a great portion of herself.

He left her to it, deciding instead to catch up to Ichiro, who whether by coincidence or intention, had maintained the first position behind the two vampires who led their group.  As Tilly pulled up beside him, he noted that while the lapin didn’t seem as fully at ease as Tilly, he looked like he also would have no trouble keeping this pace for hours on end.

“Ichiro, can I ask you something personal?”  Tilly spoke in a low tone, hoping that they were far enough away from the vampires that they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Please, Jonathan Tillman, feel free to do so.  I will let you know if I think it unwise to continue in our discourse,” he answered, with a quick, but pointed look at the two leading their group through the twisting lowlands winding between the hills.

“As you and Shuji both know, my build is maxed around Endurance and while I think I understand both the benefits and costs of my stat layout, I am not sure I fully understand the context of my numbers.”  Tilly laid out hesitantly, trying to form his ideas into a cohesive question.

“Shuji told me that if my stat score matched my level numerically, then I would be around the average for someone at my stage of power. He then explained that  most builds only double, or rarely, triple their level score in a single stat, and that each multiplicative threshold I pass produces some sort of unmeasured but noticeable impact.  But now, my Endurance is more than five times my level and I’m not sure I really understand the implications.  How does it square up against something like a level 75 Consumer for example?”  Tilly whispered, leaning into the lapin’s extraordinary hearing ability to make sure their conversation stayed private.

Tilly watched as Ichiro considered the question, and for the first time noticed that the lapin wasn’t breathing in rhythm with his steps.  Instead, he was maintaining a double-speed version of the meditative breathing he had taught Tilly a month ago.

Then it hit Tilly… Ichiro was meditating.  He never stopped meditating. In the recent fight, while he was running, even while he talked, he fit every one of his moments and actions into a cadence of his meditation.  Tilly couldn’t imagine what his Skill level might be at this point.

Ichiro’s calm measured answer interrupted Tilly’s musings.

“A very popular theory in this area is that your Endurance and an opponent’s Strength, are measured against each other by the System in every martial exchange.  If the stats are equal, then there are no unseen stat modifiers affecting the blow.  However, if your opponent has twice as much Strength as you have Endurance, then they might gain something like a +50% modifier to their damage output.  But the reason this is only a theory is that these exchanges are also affected by armor, positioning of the blow, racial and skill boosts to attacks and defense.  In fact, there are even more theoretical factors than the ones I am mentioning” He said speaking his words in a rhythmic cadence,

“The exact numerical advantage of having such a high Endurance is not known, but doubling or tripling your opponent's Strength score will make their Strength-modified attacks significantly weaker against you. The same is true for magical attacks and intelligence, as well as environmental damage against your physical body. Endurance essentially is the measurement of your body’s ability to persist in its ideal physical state no matter the opposition. It does not, however, help you with spiritual and mental attacks… that is where Wisdom comes in, and it is the area of your build I have been most concerned about.”

“Yeah, I can see that.  Especially with Corruption eroding my defenses in that area. That's what made that attack from the Red Eyes guy so effective…”

Tilly trailed away losing himself in thought, as he mindlessly followed the group through the hills at an easy jog. This was the whole in his defenses Corruption wanted to continue to advance within him…  He had achieved some measure of mental defense against the surges of dark desires that would be leveled against him in times of extreme stress, but that wouldn’t help him when it came to resisting the powers of the forces arrayed against him.  Ichiro watched the conflicting emotions play out across Tilly’s face and lapsed into the silence easily, content to give his companion space to process.

‘The Wisdom bottleneck is where the Min-Maxing of my build takes its toll.  But honestly, [Resolute] has saved my life so many times I can’t imagine going forward without it, and without the increase to my survivability that Endurance has given me, I wouldn’t have made it through half of the fights I have faced so far.  So I’m pretty much committed...

‘Just got to keep moving forward and look for some alternative way to shore up my weakness’ besides stat dumping. At least until I finally rip this thing out of me. ’

…

They continued on their run for hours, letting Hilbert lead them around possible enemy hot spots well in advance of actually seeing them.  After a while, Tilly moved up to ask him about the compass object he held.  He explained that it was keyed into the vampirism variant that infected the Strigoi and it was something his master had left him as a parting gift years ago.

Otherwise, they made great time through the Twighlight Planes, something that Hilbert said would normally be much more difficult if the Horde wasn’t so concentrated on both fronts of attack.  During one of their short breaks, he shared with the group that the Order still patrolled the edges of the Horde lands on their border, and typically kept covert resources invested in tracking Horde movements.  Yet every major Horde aggression over the last few months had been so far away from the Order’s lands, that intervention had seemed like a foolish risk to the queen, who thought each attack was a feint to lure them away from supply lines.

However the consequences of this non-interventionalist policy had driven a very small number of their Order to seek out alternatives. The Horde continued to expand at an alarming rate and Hilber, Sir. Micheal and a few others though that their continued expansion had to be stopped at all costs.

The group kept their breaks short, and after what seemed like seven or eight hours, even Tilly was starting to develop a sheen of sweat under his MoundStalker armor.  Franklin and Amelia were in much worse shape. They baerly keept pace, relying on different herbal concoctions from Amelia’s never ending stock to keep moving.  Yet, even though they had not uttered a word of complaint, Tilly was beginning to grow worried for the pair.

“There it is, one of our outposts!” Hilbert's voice interrupted Tilly in the middle of another worried glace back at the two who were now struggling not to fall behind.

“We shall vouch for you and hopefully we will secure better transport for the rest of the trip to our Order’s Capital.” He said, looking back at the last members of the group lathered in sweat and grime.  They did not reply to his comment or even look up as he gestured to what Tilly could see was a faint structure on the horizon. The two Vampires didnt seem winded at all for the effort, but a darker part of Tilly was glad see that they still did have to breath.

He had been thinking alot about what had happened back with ancient cave bear, and was sure he could think of a few things, even in open air environments that would multiply his groups attack power by an order of magnitude…

They approached the rest of the way to the outpost at a walk, and as they drew near, Tilly saw that it was a squat midevil-style fortress, surrounded by a wall two stories high.   The moment they came within view of the towers of the fortress, a cry went up, and soon after, a group of ten riders emerged from the gate to meet their group on the open land.

‘Time to finally meet the locals.’