"Tom, why can't we just meet these snails of humans at the settlement? This is unbearably boring." Steve asked, slithering alongside me through the forest foliage. We'd landed back on the Demigod giants-controlled region an hour ago, having to march with our recruits and fellow leadership due to the severe lack of transportation. Korbin had me assign all of my other tamed beasts tied up in escorting Elysium trade ships from our vessel on the way here, swearing they'd need the support with him away. Now, we had to walk at our level 5 to 7 recruits paces rather than my 30 foot winged fucking snakes.
"No Steve, Korbin decided we're doing this old school. If anything that means we're in no rush to get back, meaning we might get some free time to go hunting." I said, trying to inspire my serpent to at the very least stop bitching in my head the whole way. Steve is easily one of my closest friends, someone who shares an objectively unique bond with me. That being said, he was undoubtedly the biggest diva I'd ever met in my life. He often reminded me of someone born rich before the integration, seeing the odds stacked against him as foreign and scary at times. Hopefully, spending more time with me will thicken his scaly skin.
"Fine. I'm going to roll with Becky for a bit, let her know we might get to hunt later." Steve replied, pumping the breaks and falling back behind me before I could respond. Did I mentioned he's also utterly fucking whipped for Becky? It's good they don't fight, as that kind of friction would assuredly result in a few casualties due to their sheer size and strength. Them constantly sneaking away was a problem though, and a growing anxiety over Becky turning up with-eggs in the middle of our conquest had already fostered in the back of my head for a while. Truth be told, I haven't the slightest clue what a pregnant snake is like, and I had little intention to find out in the middle of a fucking war we've inserted ourselves into with giants.
"Hey, Tom? You mind if I walk with you?" Cassi's quiet voice at my side snapped me from my concerns.
"Yeah! Yeah sure." Said, smiling through my response.
"Thanks." Cassi's eyes fell to the forest foliage a few steps, not waiting long to bring up why she caught up to me.
"Hey uh, can I ask you something? Well, a few things?" Cassi asked.
"Of course. Ask away, Cass."
"Okay, then I need you to promise me you're going to answer completely honestly. Can you do that?" Cassi asked, wearing a rather serious look.
"Yes, Cassi. What's your question?" I replied. Cassi looked over her shoulder, peering back at Korbin who walked with Lonni and Phoebe further back.
"Do you think you'd do better than me, at this whole 'General' thing if you really wanted to?" Cassi asked in a whisper. My brow furrowed at the question, feeling almost insulted by it.
"What? Fuck no. I don't know half the shit you do about large scale tactics. I'm good at fighting people to the death, not chess. Why are you asking me this?" I shot back, disappointed in her lack of confidence.
"Korbin compared my lack of tactical acumen to you, and it got me thinking about how…harsh I'd been to you. When I'm apparently guilty of the same involuntary hastiness and lack of foresight." Cassi said, sounding rather apologetic.
"I mean, never thought you were saying all that but, glad you don't feel that way anymore." I said, feeling kind of insulted.
"Oh no, you were all those things, but it's unfair for me to have given you shit when I was too. My point is, I'm missing something vital. Would you mind picking back up on our training? I have to progress my class somehow until I figure this shit out." Cassi asked, in the most roundabout way I've ever heard.
"Just ask instead of calling me stupid next time, but sure. I'm not going to go easy on you anymore now that you're stronger, fair warning." I said, fully inspired to show her a few moves.
"Good, I'd be pissed if you held back. Thanks, Tom." Cassi said, falling back to the rest of the group.
What the fuck, do I smell?
Sniffing my shirt and finding no notable odors, I looked back to see why everyone was walking so damn slowly. Korbin held a large piece of paper, pointing at a few spots as the others crowded around him. He probably had a map, giving everyone a real detailed rundown on our conquest moving forward. That's all well and good, though I can't imagine remembering all of that before the plan has to adjust anyways.
Everyone else may not know it, but Korbin's style of leadership was much different than Cassi's. Maybe Lonni and Cassi are aware, but we have countless new additions to every rank in our army. Most have never fought under Korbin's command, enjoying Cassi's consistency. I know next to nothing about planning a siege or setting up defenses, but I do know from fighting Korbin that he thrives in chaos, and will take any justifiable opportunity to take it.
…probably. Korbin's also displayed a lot of behavior I've never seen in our 14 years of knowing each other. Granted, I'd never seen him in a place of power over others. Either way, I trust his judgement. I just hope our soldiers don't have too hard of a time learning to do the same, if they hadn't already. Seeing as though I was going to be walking alone for the foreseeable future, I decided to take another glance over my new gear that Korbin so graciously funded before we left last night, starting with my new cowl.
Cowl Of Perpetual Motion (Rare) - wearer is imbued with the fluidity of reserved for those versed disciplined motion, ensuring not a shred of energy goes to waste.
+14 endurance
+6 agility
Initially it was difficult letting my Cowl Of The Wise Warrior up, along with the +4 in wisdom that came with it. There just wasn't any other cowls available that offered any boosts to wisdom, and this one was far and beyond the best replacement due to its raw stat boosts. Besides, it's not like I'm going to wear some stupid helmet or something. Next I read over my chest piece over, a piece of light cloth armor that…well, it would've been stupid not to buy.
Supreme Robe Of The Willful (Rare) - Wearer enjoys a large boost to their willpower.
+20 Willpower
Yeah, absolutely no way in fuck I wasn't going to nearly double my willpower stat, especially knowing it directly affected my beast taming skills. The rush of 20 additional willpower points hitting my body at once was frankly a blur. My vision dissolved into a white light the moment the robes hit my skin, feeling all of my senses exit through every pore in my skin. The world around me no longer felt separate from myself, nor did I feel independent from its intentions.
According to Korbin, I'd collapsed to the Pylon room floor at the Porphynaen settlement for about a minute before waking up. To me, time was irrelevant. I'm still not sure if it felt like only a second went by, or a year. My memories of the entire experience come and go, depending on whether I'm meditating or not. The whole thing still makes me uncomfortable, and I'm just happy I get to reap the benefits of the robes boost.
Moving on, next were my bottoms that were also cloth, though a far thicker material than my robes.
Bottoms Of Prudent Evasion (Rare) - Wearer has prided themselves in studying their enemies movements to ensure avoiding a mortal blow, refusing to allow their foes dawdling attempts on their life to hinder their pursuit of survival.
+12 agility
+8 wisdom
These weren't exactly the best bottoms available, though I wanted to be sure not to have anything less than Rare items. Okay, Korbin might've made that a stipulation to getting a small loan of 50,000 TP, but it wasn't like I couldn't afford to go a little above and beyond with my remaining funds.
Boots Of Robust Knowledge (epic) - the crafter of these boots was among a faction long extinct, who devoted their lives to the preservation of the universe's most ancient secrets. Many that later served as the foundation for countless paths to power. May your pursuit of knowledge persist endlessly.
+15 toughness
+10 intelligence
I could've kept hard nosing into my wisdom, or even topped off my endurance to match my agility that had finally caught up with the absurdly high endurance stat. Seeing the rest of my stats falling so far behind really put in perspective how unbalanced I'd truly been, which I suppose is the point of specialization. Still, the disparity was far too wide for me to continue ignoring, at least when I had the option to reduce the disparity in front of me. Besides, managing to gain +20 to agility and willpower was pretty fucking nice, albeit a painful change of clothes.
Losing the 2 points in vitality my old gear afforded only bothered me due to it having been exactly 20 before, now dropping to an unsatisfactory 18. The skull-splitting intelligence boost accompanied by the boost in toughness was incredibly disorienting. The toughness boost made my skin stiffen like stone for a millisecond, freezing me in place while my brain was lit aflame by a rush of stats flooding my intelligence stat. At least now it was over 20, making my Lightning Bolt more effective while dramatically raising my mana pool to 224.
Having a higher intelligence stat than vitality was an uncomfortable feeling, but I knew it would serve me well given all my expensive skills I've had to use sparingly. With my endurance stat boosted at a perfect 69, my stamina rose all the way to 693 too. Truly, the glass cannon build I'd adored playing video games with friends turned out to be my desired build in real life, who could have guessed? Korbin was pretty pissed at first hearing I only had 280 TP left over, until I told him about the boots. More importantly, my logic in shoring up weakness in myself before they got out of hand. Surprisingly, he praised my ability to control my urge to funnel all my resources into my strengths. He also didn't hear about the +20 boosts to two of my highest stats, but he never asked either.
2 more grueling hours of marching through the forest dragged by before the Porphynaen settlement came into view. A few scouts cheered from above the settlement gate seeing us approaching, our recruits responding in kind. Ushering our soldiers in, our army greeted us with open arms just inside the Pylon settlement. Giants and humans alike introduced themselves as Korbin assembled the leadership, escorting us to the Pylon building. After filing into the meeting room, Korbin walked to the center of us, taking an exaggerated breath through his nose and out of his mouth.
"I've got to say, it feels pretty good to be back out here. Those walls can get claustrophobic, no matter how far I expand them." Korbin began, smiling affably at each of us. His brow furrowed, maintaining his grin.
"I hope you all rested, I have a vital assignment for each of you to complete by the end of today. Before we can resume our assisting the Jaia faction in seizing control over this region, I need to know your strengths, and shitty habits you've picked up since I've been away." Korbin said, pacing in front of us.
"Okay, weirdly ominous way to give a mission. What you got, lay it on us." I said, earning a few chuckles amongst the rest of us. Korbin smiled a devious grin.
"Remember the tournament?"
…
"Damn, she's fighting angry, isn't she?" Korbin asked, leaning into my ear. Cassi was in a furiocious fight with Derrick, trying her best to get her hands on him. Even when she landed attacks, his durability allowed Derrick to land his own counter strikes regardless. Cassi pressed forward relentlessly, exhibiting an impressive display of footwork shuffling around Derrick. She fought desperately to get her hands on him, having excelled in wrestling, judo and jiu jitsu training with Korbin, but Derrick was proving too slippery to get her clamps on.
"I mean, can you blame her?" I asked, looking at Korbin.
"Yes. Yes I absolutely can." He responded, not taking his eyes off the match. Thinking about it, I suppose no one is responsible for the actions one performs. Still, she's human, and humans get upset when they're fired from their dream job for not being good enough.
Derrick used his teleporting skill to avoid a head kick, his fist already lurching toward Cassi's jaw when he reappeared a foot away. Cassi stepped back, looking to slide out of range. Suddenly, Derrick disappeared yet again, reappearing less than a second later beside Cassi. His elbow smashed into her jaw, causing everyone watching to wince in empathetic pain.
Everyone knew that kind of shot, one you don't even see coming hurt the worst. Everyone except Cassi, whose head just snapped back to Derrick. Her foot slid behind Derrick's lead foot, lifting it out from him. As Derrick tumbled onto his back, Cassi rolled forward over his head, wrapping her arm around his neck. By the time they hit the floor, Cassi had Derrick locked in a darce choke, her forearm slipped under his armpit and wrapped around the front of his neck. Derrick's body flickered in and out of existence, apparently unable to use his teleport skill in a grapple. I turned to Korbin to point out the newfound weakness in his skill, only to be met with his knowing stare already glaring at me. Not bothering to waste my breath, I nodded in understanding and turned my attention back to the match.
Derrick's face nearly turned as purple as his affinity's mana before he finally tapped, sitting defeated on the floor. Cassi didn't celebrate, instead standing patiently over Derrick who was too busy self loathing to see her offering him a hand up.
"Yo, Derrick! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, your fellow captains offering you kindness that I certainly wouldn't." Korbin barked, getting Derrick to see and accept Cassi's help up.
"Alright, so far Cassi's beat Derrick and Phoebe, and so has Tom. That means Derrick and Phoebe are up next for a consolation match, before Tom and Cassi's semi-final fight." Korbin ordered, earning an exhausted sigh from Derrick and Phoebe. They both had it rough as hell so far, losing every match we've had in this meeting room not at all built for training. Derrick was too slow to avoid my lightning strike, so long as I masked it in normal punches and leg kicks.
He was too shifty for head kicks, seeing my knee get above my hip and just teleporting the opposite side with a counter punch ready. As proud as I was for being ready, he still needed to work on his form. Every punch was thrown with everything he had, making reading his Flow like spotting an orange ball in an empty green box. Shit stuck out, and I evaded accordingly.
Phoebe was inherently quicker, but her hand to hand combat skills were to be desired. I hadn't trained with her before, outside of teaching her how to adjust to the temperament of just serpents. I realized quickly why she chose a ranged class, seeing her shell up after landing my first hooking punch to her ribs. I almost felt bad about winning that fight, making a note to train her how to at least defend herself if she ever lost her bow.
"Phoebe! Come here." Korbin called, seeing Derrick still recovering from being choked out not a minute before his next match was announced. Phoebe made her way over, the bruise on her eye making it hard for me to look at her face. Korbin on the other hand had no problem looking her dead in the eye.
"You were never taught how to fight, were you?" He asked in a deadpan tone.
"…no not at all. I had big brothers, but they never hit me this hard." She reluctantly admitted, averting her eyes from Korbin.
"Good. That means there's no bad habits for me to correct. For now, keep your fucking hands up, and stop staring your opponent in the eye. Watch their chest, and use your peripherals to spot their strikes. Eyes lie way easier than arms and legs." Korbin instructed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Phoebe nodded, adopting a look of determination I hadn't seen in our little tournament thus far.
"Alright, break's over ladies. Let's see who's going to be training with me personally for the rest of the night." Korbin barked, folding his arms and lifting his chin high. Phoebe and Derrick walked in the center of the room, standing 10 feet from each other. They both stared at Korbin, waiting for him to begin their match. Korbin stuck his hand out, scrunching his face in confusion.
"The fuck are you waiting for, introduction music? Winners get a soundtrack, commence the fucking violence." Korbin ordered. Derrick immediately used his teleport skill, landing a nasty sucker punch on Phoebe. She stumbled back, keeping her hands in front of her face. Derrick paused for a second, seeing her shell up immediately. I caught a glimpse of a grin on his face, unleashing a barrage of punches to Phoebe's face and body. The guy had been getting pummeled all morning, and I doubt he even expected his first punch to land let alone do damage.
Phoebe continued backpedaling, all the way to the wall 15 feet away. Derrick started teeing off, not having to walk forward with her anymore. Phoebe rolled and shelled, taking shot after shot. Her arms started drooping lower, indicating she was fading. Not willing to watch this absolute slaughter continue, I stepped forward to call the fight over. Korbin grabbed my arm tight, giving me the meanest 'don't you fucking dare' stare I'd received from him in years. I reluctantly backed next to him, liberally wearing my displeasure with his call. He paid no mind, instead pointing back to the fight.
Of course, Phoebe was getting rocked left and right, taking punches and knees by the bunches. Her bottom lip had completely ripped at the center, splitting apart with the momentum of her head snapping side to side. Derrick wasn't holding back, clearly trying to end this fight with every powerful hook to her jaw. He lunged forward, loading up a vicious overhand I wanted so badly to Flow Inverse for the sake of Phoebe's health.
Instead, the stomach turning pop of bone cracking on bone echoed across the room, Phoebe's jumping knee smashing into Derrick's ducking head. His skull recoiled back violently, the back of his head nearly slapping against his spine before whipping back upright. Derrick's knees wobbled under him, but surprisingly he remained standing. Phoebe on the other swung punch after punch in a frenzy of strikes, practically chasing Derrick around swinging with each step. Derrick struggled to defend the longstanding barrage, his eyes spreading wider with every passing moment. After 10 full seconds, Phoebe's strikes started landing more and more until Derrick resorted to teleport counter-striking rather liberally.
Phoebe displayed far greater apathy for her own injuries than Derrick, not even bothering to block his punches amidst her unending flurry of punches. She slipped an uppercut under his guard, making Derrick's legs wobble again. Phoebe decided to throw a second uppercut clearly happy with the results, however Derricks elbow slammed into the pit of her elbow, causing her arm to bend in.
Derrick ripped a hooking punch into Phoebe's tempal, the force knocking her off the ground twisting sideways through the air before crashing to the stone Pylon floor. Derrick dropped to a knee, turning his pleading gaze to Korbin who nodded.
"That's enough. Both of you were damn sloppy, but neither of you can be called a quitter after today. Great fucking fight you two." Korbin said, kneeling beside Phoebe and feeding a health potion down her unconscious throat. Immediately, her head lurched up from the ground with a loud gasp. She looked over at Korbin, breathing heavily with panicked eyes.
"You did good, you kept your hands up and found your opening and blitzed. We're going to hone in on that, great work Phoebe." Korbin said, offering a hand up. Phoebe sighed, apparently recalling how she ended up on the floor. She cracked her neck and tested moving her jaw around before accepting his offer.
"Then why did I lose so badly?" Phoebe asked weakly, holding her ribcage. Her lip was actively sealing back shut, along with the purple and blue swelling that peppered her face slowly going down. Those health potions are something else. Korbin smiled, answering her question gleefully.
"When he hit you, where were your hands?"