Chapter 306: Screwed (Patreon)

Author’s note: Hi guys.

.

Firstly what I want to say is a massive thank you, for your opposition to my decision and understanding. Thank you.

.

And as for my December break, it was pointed out to me that I could postpone billing directly through the Patreon site. Much appreciated guys. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to give it more thought. However, it would be a way of not pushing you to stop your subscription. You would be informed of anything I posted during December and I would have no guilty conscience about getting paid for doing nothing. Anyway, I will inform you more during tomorrow, Monday at the latest.

.

Enjoy the chapter!

.

Chapter 306: Screwed - Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/93512938

.

___________________________________________________________________

Chapter 306: Screwed

.

No enthusiastic race to be the first to swap a skill took place. All the guards present, men and women, were glancing at each other to see if anyone would find the guts to do so.

And for a moment, it looked as if no one would be daring enough; that despite our best efforts, humanity on Eleaden would remain in the shadows of ignorance.

“Ah, Corporal Farshire. I must say not what I would have expected from you, but all the more glad to see that you are willing to give it a try,” Rayden said as Clay, of all people, stepped forward. “Don’t expect a reward, though. You know how I feel about those.”

“That they should be earned, ma’am.”

“Exactly. Prove to me that you can deal with a skill swap, master your skills, and you won’t be disappointed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Excellent. Now, Corporal, I don’t want to pry any more out of you, knowing how difficult a decision this is, but . . . it might help others to know what helped you most in making this decision. Perhaps it might be something we could elaborate on.”

Clay shifted and looked around, his eyes meeting mine for a moment. “Um . . . I want to get stronger, ma’am. Not get my ass kicked by Grey.”

Laughter erupted from the ranks of those present, with a few taunts thrown in here and there. Surprisingly, the man didn’t erupt in anger, either because of Rayden’s attention or because he had learned to tame his temper in the time Stella and I had been gone.

“You have chosen a difficult task, Corporal. I’m afraid to say, perhaps even impossible.”

While the praise in Rayden’s words tickled my pride, it wasn’t the best way to boost the man’s confidence.

“I’m - I am aware of that, ma’am. But no matter what I do, I feel . . . like . . . like I’m dragging myself through the mud. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I can’t think of a better way to describe it.”

“In fact, you described it well, Corporal.”

“You think so, ma’am?”

“Yes. I feel the same way. But it wasn’t always like this. I remember when I reached my sweet sixteen and a year after that. Everything was so easy. The same after class evolution.”

“Are you saying that if I swap my skills, leveling up will be as easy as it was back then, ma’am?” Clay asked with a hint of doubt in his voice, obviously having the same experience as her. And judging by the muttering of the other guards, they weren’t the only ones - a shared experience, it seemed.

“I wish it were so, Corporal. Unfortunately, that’s not something I can answer. Perhaps Grey and Palemoon could?” It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she wanted us to step out onto the training grounds and join them.

“Tell us again what your experience is with training after the skill swap.”

Embarrassingly, not what I could answer either. I may have trained with mossbears and pushed myself beyond my limits, but I didn’t really pay attention to the System and the new ways of using my skills that it showed me. I was mostly following my instincts.

“It’s . . . harder, ma’am. More rewarding, though.”

“Can you elaborate, Private Palemoon?”

“You don’t learn to use skills through the System, hoping some of it sticks. You learn to actually use them. But when you do, it grants you much more . . . freedom.”

“Meaning?”

“The System,” I said, seeing the chance to not stand there like a fool. “It presents us with skills, their levels based on what we’ve actually mastered. It can’t show us how to . . . how to create an aura weapon, for example, if I don’t know how to actually control the aura.”

“Sound. Since I have mastered aura control, I should have a lot more options for using it, right? Do you know how to access those options?”

Now, I regretted opening my big mouth. I had no idea. Hell, I had no idea how to avoid the whole skill-swapping thing, let alone how to affect the skills to such an extent.

“General Skills, ma’am,” Stella said. “I believe that Class Skills are more, rather than less, determined by our class. Though that’s just my speculation.”

“All right, that’s good enough for me,” Rayden said, seeing that her questions had put us on the spot. “So, Corporal Farsight? Have you decided which skills you’re going to swap and for what?”

“Well . . . ”

“Actually, ma’am. If I may?”

“Yes, Private Palemoon?”

“An interesting idea was brought to our attention during your spar with mister Deckard, ma’am.”

“Speak.”

‘Please don’t say anything about Ria. Please!’ I prayed in my mind. It would have been great if the little kitsune had gotten the credit she deserved, but people could be pretty nasty when it came to something that conflicted with their beliefs. Especially when it might have led to a misunderstanding.

Luckily, Stella wasn’t that ignorant, and she didn’t mention the little kitsune in the account of our earlier exchange.

“Hmm . . . that my debuff aura might prevent others from accessing the System? An interesting idea, Privates, but I must disappoint you. It’s percentage-based. I bet Deckard can attest to that.”

“That I can,” my mentor nodded. “If I let her aura do what it pleases, I’d be screwed no matter what I mastered.”

“Oh . . . ” I let out a slightly disappointed sigh, instantly regretting showing him something so unseemly. My out-of-place feelings aside, that was one of the easier ways to approach the whole skill swapping out of the window.

“Don’t drop your ears, Little Beast. I think it’s a good thing.”

“Why?”

“If there were skills that could mess with the System . . . the whole thing would be pretty fucked up, don’t you think?”

That . . . I had to agree with. Actually, if such skills existed, whether within or outside the System, it would be a disaster.

“Not having to swap skills would be convenient, though. Don’t you think so, San?”

“Sure. But wouldn’t we know if it was possible?”

“Not necessarily,” Blaine pointed out. “I imagine that over the millennia people have thought of somehow shutting down the System - unsuccessfully, obviously - or limiting its functions in order to weaken their enemies. But to deliberately weaken themselves? That would take a heck of a lot of determination.”

“Or someone crazy,” Deckard remarked.

“You’re one to talk,” Rayden shot back.

“Nevertheless,” Blaine continued, thinking out loud and ignoring them both. “I have to agree. It would be damn convenient. And as such, it’s almost impossible that no one would ever find out, even by accident. However, if true and possible, it would suggest . . . ”

“No. No, no, no, no! Fuuuckkk!!!!,” a panicked wail echoed through the training grounds, hurting my ears.

“What the hell, Vera?!” I knew that voice too - Elira. “My ears almost exploded!”

“Kill me, just kill me!”

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you? You’re screaming like you just blew your entire salary on a bet on Clay or something.”

“I wish I had,” the guardswoman wailed, falling to her knees in despair - and pulling at her hair. “Elira, what am I going to do?”

“Maybe you could start by telling me what the heck happened - oh, ma’am, s-sorry about her, ma’am. She . . . ” Elira stammered out, standing at attention as Rayden and the rest of us reached them.

“At ease, Corporal Truthorb. Although I must ask you the same question, Corporal Vara. What happened?”

The guardswoman, obviously calmer now, likely under the influence of Rayden’s soothing aura, stood to attention. “I’m done for, ma’am.”

“Take a breath, Corporal; calm down and tell me what happened.”

Vara did as Rayden told her, however, horror, despair, and who knows what else literally reeked out of her. “I . . . you . . . you were talking about the System and how it might be p-possible to avoid skill swapping . . . ”

“Vara, don’t tell me you - sorry, ma’am,” Elira apologized for interrupting.

“I was just - just thinking and . . . suddenly . . . all my levels were gone, ma’am. I’m fucked. What am I going to do?”

Rayden raised an eyebrow, startled, her eyes meeting mine and Stella’s. She wanted us to give her an explanation we couldn’t.

“Ma’am, e-even if she lost access to the System, she shouldn’t lose what she’s truly mastered.”

“Korra is telling the truth, ma’am. Besides, I don’t think Corporal Vara lost access to the System. She mentioned levels.”

“Corporal?”

“Yes . . . I mean, y-yes, ma’am?”

“You still have access to the System?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Vara asked, confused.

I could see Rayden clenching her fist.

“And your skills? Did you swap them all at once?”

“No, but . . . I’m screwed, ma’am.”

“So you still have your skills?”

“I do. But all my levels are gone. Goooonee!”

“Calm down, Corporal. I assure you, as I have just verified myself, that with some practice you will be able to get them to at least two-thirds of their previous levels.”

“That depends,” Deckard grumbled. “I wouldn’t be so optimistic and say more like half.”

Rayden sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Unfortunately, he’s right. It depends on how deeply you’ve mastered your skills. However, as I promised, and my word stands, I will do everything in my power to get you back to your pre-skill-swap level.”

“B-but I didn’t swap them.”

“And what exactly did you do?”

“Like I said . . . I was thinking about what you said about the unknown function in the System and . . . bam . . . all my levels were gone.”

“Wait, Vara,” Elira said, stopping short. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“It’s okay, Corporal, go ahead.”

“Y-yes, ma’am,” the guardswoman strutted, turning to her distraught friend. “Vara? Are all your levels gone?”

“They might as well be . . . .I feel so weak.”

“Vara!”

“What? Don’t you have an ounce of empathy in you? I’m doooomed.”

“For idiots like you? No.”

“I knew it. That cold heart of yours . . . now that I’m weak, you . . . ”

*Slap*

“Are you done, or do you need a second?”

I thought of Elira as a quiet woman, a guardswoman who followed the rules to the best of her ability, dragged around by Vara. However, the slap she gave her friend echoed through the training grounds and made Vara stumble.

“N-no, I am good. Damn it, Elira. That hurt like fuck. Have you been practicing slapping or something?”

“Maybe.”

“I knew it. Do you have the skills for it too? Wait . . . my skills! Ah . . . ”

“Corporal Vara!”

“Y-yes, ma’am?” the guardswoman stood at attention and answered somehow automatically, only to have her eyes widened. “Ma’am? What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you. You two are supposed to be on duty at the City Hall, the Hall of Souls. I assigned you there myself.”

“A-about th-that . . . ”

“Brorel and Peron are covering for us, ma’am,” Elira said hurriedly, before her friend could say another word and get them in even deeper shit. “We heard that Korra - I mean Private Grey and Palemoon - were having a briefing today, and we wanted to attend.”

Rayden nodded, a glint of approval mixed with disapproval in her eyes. “I imagine it wasn’t cheap.”

“It didn’t, ma’am.”

“Fucking tits, it wasn’t, my skills . . . I . . . ”

“Corporal Vara! Get your shit together.”

“It’s not that easy, ma’am. I mean, without my skills - you’re not going to fire me from the City Guards, are you? I don’t know what else I’d do.”

“I’ll say it again - for anyone who swaps their skills, I will do everything in my power to help train them back.”

“So I’m really screwed, ma’am, huh?”

“Weren’t you listening, Corporal?”

“I was, ma’am. But . . . it’s just that I didn’t swap my skills.”

“Then explain what happened, Corporal.”

“W-well, out of the blue, all my levels were just gone.”

“Vara, you said you were thinking about . . . ?”

“Yes, about what those two said. I think it was something like, guidance of masters renounced.”

Guidance of masters r . . . ? Before I could form the thought, Rayden’s full presence hit me. It was so sudden, so unexpected, that my reaction was instinctive, and I responded with my own might, adding a defiant growl. Like her, I flooded the entire training grounds with my level-500 beast presence in response, scaring the piss out of more than one of those present. Thankfully, Ria, still hidden in the soft fur of my tail, was spared. The same could not be said for Enola. The poor receptionist collapsed on the ground, reeking of fear.

Of course, I realized at once what I had done and withdrew my beast might. But the deed was already done.

“No one dares to think that!” Rayden warned before flooding the training grounds with her soothing aura.

“Quick thinking, San,” Deckard patted Rayden on the back. “I almost made that thought.”

“Same here,” Blaine remarked. “Although I don’t believe the thought alone would be enough. If it was, after today’s briefing, we’d have hundreds of guards with swapped skills.”

“I admit I panicked a bit,” Rayden said bluntly, shocking everyone who had already recovered from my slip. “And I certainly didn’t expect Private Grey to get involved.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I . . . you caught me off guard. It won’t happen next time.”

A false promise, and we both knew it. If she hit me that aggressively again, I’d react the same way.

“Good. As for the rest of you, I hope none of you have lost skill levels like Corporal Vara here?”

While it was quite a struggle to make sense of all the answers pouring in at once, I didn’t hear anyone who ended up like the guardswoman.

“Excellent,” Rayden breathed a sigh of relief, even though a complete skill reset for all guards was the end goal of this whole mess. There was a difference between making a conscious decision and having life throw shit in your face.

Certain that all her men and women were fine, Rayden turned to the one who wasn’t. “Now . . . as for you, Corporal Vara!”

“It’s not my fault, ma’am. I was just answering your question,” the guardswoman blurted out quickly.

“You said something similar last time and the time before that.” Rayden raised her eyebrows, amused, and let the guardswoman sweat her ass off for a moment. “In this case, however, I have to agree with you, Corporal. Not entirely your fault . . . BUT I need answers.

I hope you understand.”

“Totally - I mean, yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Your skills, then. Do you still have them?”

“Yes, but . . . ”

“At what level?”

“That’s the thing. I . . .

“At what level, Corporal?”

“Well, it differs from skill to skill.”

“So they didn’t drop to level one?”

“No, ma’am. But . . . ”

“What level, then? In general.”

“Um . . . ” Vara thought, probably doing the math. “Around level 70. Like I said. I’m screwed, Captain. Now I’m going to get my ass kicked even by someone like Clay.”

“Hey, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” the man in question spoke up. “Do I need to remind you how many times I trashed your ass?”

“Not the last time, Clay.”

“Enough, you two!” Rayden groaned, glaring at Vara. “If I understand correctly, you still have your skills, with a level of around 70?”

“Basically, ma’am. Fucked up, finished . . . what the fuck, Elira. What was that for?” Vara snapped at her friend as she smacked her on the head.

“For worrying me, idiot. I thought you really messed up.”

“I did!”

“No, Corporal. What you’ve done is most likely found something slipping through humanity’s fingers for millennia.”

“Traina’s tits. Did I?”

“We’ll have to check, but it appears so. Good work.”

Vara strutted with pride at the rare praise, only to slump her shoulders again. “But I’m still screwed, ma’am. Even when I tried to undo what I did, nothing happened. My skills are still . . . ”

“At the level you’ve truly mastered them, Corporal,” Rayden cut her off. “Those levels are ones you’ll never lose.”

Not really true. As with all untrained abilities, a neglected skill could become dull too. Worse, the missing limb might have severely impaired the skill. On the other hand, because of the limited number of skills, people tend not to have skills they didn’t use. Thinking about it, the intended design of the System’s creators likely rooted in what Geran and Vienlin warned me about: not spreading my focus too thin.

“Then you’re saying that after all that training, I’m still this lame, ma’am?” Vara whined, making Elira laugh. “Nothing’s changed, huh?”

“Fuck you, El. Why don’t you try? Or are you afraid you’ll be more pathetic than me?”

“Stop it, you two. As great a breakthrough as this is, I don’t recommend anyone else trying it until we test it further,” Rayden said, raising her voice. “That goes for all of you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” came a chorus of agreement from the guards present.

“And don’t even try to talk anyone else into it - if I find out, you’d better wish not to be in the city.”

Unlike me, the guards present seemed to know what would await them if that happened, and didn’t seem keen to try. In fact, their looks and whispers made me wonder what punishments Rayden had in store.

“Wh-what about me, ma’am?” asked Vara.

“You - and Truthorb - are relieved of your duties at City Hall.”

“Finally, no more of that eerie hall,” the guardswoman rejoiced, only to slump down again. “Still, I’d rather have my skills back. I mean, if no one else tries, I’ll be the only one who’s screwed.”

“First, however, to fully master your skills,” Rayden told her, trying to lift her spirits. “And I’ll make sure you do.”

“Um . . . ” Stella cleared her throat. “Not exactly, ma’am. Me and Korra have already done that.”

“I forgot about you two,” Rayden admitted with a sigh. “The third, then. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it, Corporal?”

Technically, that wasn’t true either. There was still Deckard. I kept that to myself, though, seeing how hearing that lifted Vara’s mood at least a tiny bit.

___________________________________________________________________

Author’s note: Not my finest work, I admit. Yet despite the way I approached the chapter, a pretty important one.

___________________________________________________________________

Previous Chapter          Table of Contents         Next Chapter