Unbound

The morning came too early.

Felix woke to Pit huffing in his sleep, kicking his big feet and pushing the Nym nearly off his bedroll.

"Gah, buddy," Felix groaned, shifting out of reach of the tenku's paws. He looked up, at first only seeing a hazy darkness before activating his Manasight. The air was warm with trapped heat, the light of outside blocked by the heavy blankets on the archways...but with Manasight Felix could catch the ambient glow all around him as he picked out the others who were likewise slowly getting moving. He sat up and felt a sudden gnawing at his core, a gurgling ache that he couldn't ignore. It was accompanied by a familiar pressure on his bladder.

Fantasy world with magic and monsters, and I still gotta pee. He grumbled as he got up and half stumbled his way to the basin room. It had a big drain in the center. What else good was it for?

Four minutes later, Felix ducked back through the blanketed archway to find the fire rekindled and a savory scent in the air. He breathed deep, enjoying whatever it was even as he moved closer to the fire. The ache in his gut grew painful, like a hard cramp in his side.

Oof. Feels like my body's eating itself, heh. Felix hobbled down the tiered steps and picked up one of the tin plates sitting below. Evie was already there, cutting slices off the strangely orange hunk of meat that was the size of Felix's torso. At first he thought it was some sort of seasoning, but as Evie's dagger cut deeper into the meat, he noticed zero variation in the ochre coloration. He Analyzed it.

Name: Roasted Ofrenok Meat

Type: Protein

Lore: Meat from the Ofrenok. Spicy.

Haha, what? Had he ever tried Analyzing cooked food before? He had been too preoccupied to bother with the Hoarhound meat, and that was the first bit of cooked food he'd had in weeks. Everything else was foraged. Food can have effects? That's interesting.

The others had joined them while he stared blankly at the meat, Vessilia and Atar still in simple woolen-like clothes. Felix Analyzed the material, but it only came back as "organic weave" which was almost annoyingly vague. Analyze can really be hit or miss, huh? He pondered whether that was due to the level of the Skill or something else, like his own understanding. The four of them all took turns quietly cutting off hunks of meat, piling their plates.

As Felix considered the modest pile in front of him, he recalled the Hoarhound meat the day before. Hm..I didn't learn anything from the cooked Hoarhound meat, despite ingesting it. Why? Because it was cooked? Not enough blood? But the Wisp didn't have blood they were just...just like a big blob of magic. His Title and Skill both called for digesting the Mana of his targets, not specifically blood. Maybe the creatures were too dead to impart anything?

Felix watched the others eat the meat, seeing Atar gag slightly at the taste of it. Still, the kid muscled up and chewed mechanically. Vessilia also pulled a face, eating but mostly picking at it with a set of utensils she retrieved from her belt pouch. Evie, of course, ate without a word of complaint. Felix took a bite, and his eyebrows rose.

Tasty, if oily. He was braced for something, anything to happen. Usually there was a burning sensation and some vertigo with his Title; but he felt nothing. I guess there's no Mana left in it to digest. Does the fire kill it, or does Mana flee with its life? He observed the meat with his Manasight, and it was still awash in fire Mana, though he couldn't tell how much of that was a remnant of the fire that cooked it.

He tried to chew slowly, finding the meat aromatic but gamey. However, it wasn't the worst thing he had eaten. And damn, he was hungry. He went through two plates before the rest of them finished their first.

Wonder where she got this? The thought rattled around his head as he took another thick cut from the nearly depleted haunch. Did Magda go hunting before we woke? Why risk leaving the tower now?

Almost as if the thought had summoned her, the large warrior stepped forward from a side chamber, fully armed and armored.

"Mornin' boys and girls. Hope you are rested and fed, because now it's time to work," She pointed to a cleared off side of the room, where Felix and Harn had sparred the night before. "Each of you are gonna spar one on one, then then three on one. Then do it again. It's fifth glass now, so you can rest at noon. Let's go."

Felix felt more than heard the other three grumble their reply. Magda simply strode past them toward the sparring area, and the rest of them followed like moths to a flame. Felix made sure to scarf down as much food as he could before going after them.

It was still ten or so minutes before everyone (except Felix) was armed and armored. The closest thing Felix had to armor were his well-made leather boots, and those were starting to show their wear. He slung his pack down next to him, keeping the hooked blade close.

The first to fight was Evie and Vessilia. Felix, who had caught a bit of their sparring the other day, hadn't had a real chance to study them. Evie was just as fast and as acrobatic as he remembered, while Vessilia was preternaturally talented at being where a strike with just barely graze her. They traded blows for two minutes, neither one gaining the upper hand as Evie flipped and dodged around Vessilia's spear, and Vessilia sidestepped and blocked Evie's spiked chain.

"By the ancients, she is remarkable," Atar breathed, a little louder than he realized, Felix thought.

"They both are," Felix agreed, almost entranced by their smooth movements. Atar gave him a look that was a cross between embarrassment and outrage.

"You dare to compare a Duke's scion to a feral urchin? Are you mad as well as stupid?" Atar said.

Felix sighed, but felt his temper start to spike. "Are you always like this, or am I just lucky? Look, I get it. You like her. Whatever man. You're all pretty impressive at this sort of thing, right?"

Atar turned his nose up and folded his arms. "Of course I am. My training began when I was a babe in arms. I assume your training started last night."

Felix almost laughed at that one. Pretty close there, Atar. "Hey, I know my knowledge has some holes in it, but gimme a break with all this superiority bull. Live and let live, yeah?"

Atar simply ignored him.

Gonna count that as a win.

The fight when on for another ten minutes, each of them running ragged by the end of it. Even pushing at the edge of her Stamina, the way Vess moved was... it was like a dancer through water; graceful, slow-seeming, but she was repeatedly just out of reach of each attack. Most of the time using the bare minimum of energy to reset and strike. Evie, on the other hand, was a frenetic dynamo, a ballistic ricochet that never settled in one place, always moving always changing angles of attack. Her chain whipped and swept through the area, extending and retracting like it had a will of its own. Felix recalled that her Born Trait was about altering the weight of herself and the chain, and the girl seemed to have spent a lot of time mastering it.

In the end, Vessilia was able to win by exhaustion, pushing Evie to the end of her Stamina and causing her to collapse. Both of them were covered in cuts and scratches, the sole reminders of their fight.

They are really, really good. He wasn't sure he'd be able to face off against either of them, not without substantially more injuries.

Magda helped the two of them off to the side, where they drank water and rested.

"You and me next," Felix said, hoping to get something that wasn't vitriol from the teen mage. All he got was a glare. Of course, he sighed. The two of them took their places in the impromptu sparring area, one at either end with approximately thirty feet separating them.

"When I call it, you can begin," Magda said, standing off to the side with one hand raised. "Ready? Begin!"

An apple-sized orb of fire abruptly splashed against Felix's chest, and the heat and flame licked against his body painfully. Atar laughed.

"Ah, shit," Felix slapped at his chest before looking up. "Jumped the gun a little--"

Five more orbs were already flying toward him.

Felix leaped forward, tucking into a roll and pushing up onto his feet, already running. He dodged the first two and rolled beneath the third, but the fourth and fifth he took on the chest and forearm. He didn't flinch though, instead barreling forward toward the mage, fists raised.

Atar seemed to only see him as he drew within ten feet, the young man wheeling backward in startled fear. Felix didn't let him escape, instead pushing his advantage and closing the distance. One step, two, and Felix was inside Atar's guard, already winding up for a straight right.

"Spirit Immolation!"

The mage lit up in flames, as if his body transmuted to fire itself. Felix reeled backward, his momentum interrupted, as he was assaulted by fire and heat.

Fire Resistance is level 15!

Heat Resistance is level 15!

Atar stood taller, confidently sneering at the larger man. "Where's your muscle now, fool?"

Gritting his teeth, Felix reminded himself that this was just a friendly spar, and he definitely shouldn't kill the kid. Probably. Instead, he chose to do the only thing that came to mind: he stepped closer, letting the fire lick against his body and start burning his hair.

Fire Resistance is level 16!

Heat Resistance is level 16!

"What're you--!" Atar tried to pull back, to evade, but he was too slow.

Felix punched the little shit right in the jaw. Just a regular, everyday punch.

Atar fell like his bones had turned to jelly. The fire winked out. The fight had lasted less than twenty seconds.

"Ah, whoops." Felix turned to see Evie and Vessilia watching with a frown and frustrated surprise, while Magda only shook her head.

"Just pull him out of there. Ladies, you're up again." Magda clapped her large hands. "Let's move!"

They fought for hours, just as Magda promised.

The Silver Rank brought them to the edge of exhaustion again and again, letting them recover only the bare minimum of Stamina. Atar slept off his knockout with little ill effect as far as Felix could tell, which was a relief. Not that he'd thought he'd killed him, but getting knocked unconscious back on Earth was never a trivial thing. It could seriously mess with your brain.

No, ultimately Atar was only nursing his bruised pride after a half hour's rest. Felix didn't have time to worry about that though, because he was thrown up against both Evie and Vessilia together. The pair of them outclassed him fairly solidly, their ranged abilities preventing him from getting up close while their evasive maneuvers kept his Shadow Whip and Acid Stream from being as effective as they might have normally. Felix could tell he'd might be able to wear them down, but not before they'd riddled him with wounds.

They rotated again and again, Magda forcing Felix to fight all of them over and over as his Stamina seemed to regenerate the fastest. He wasn't sure how she could tell he wasn't as tired as the others, but Magda knew, somehow. His Meditation kept his Stamina regen at a little over 1 point per second, so as long as he kept his movements from getting too wild, he never dipped below 30%. Even when Atar returned to the fights and began pelting them all with his Sparkbolts.

His biggest problem? He was hungry again. Two hours in and it felt like he hadn't eaten anything in days, like his stomach was trying to escape through his back. It was distracting, but nothing he couldn't ignore, at least in the short term. Just have to make it to lunch, he kept repeating to himself while he muscled down the ache.

It was a slog, a marathon of Endurance and Willpower. Luckily, he had plenty of both stats, but it proved something to him again; stats were less important than Skill, overall. Maybe he could take down Evie with a Corrosive Strike, but only if he actually could hit her; he was plenty fast, but she was more Skilled at evasion.

When they finally sat back down at the fire-pit around midday, Felix was nursing several new wounds on his arms and thighs. His pants were beginning to fall apart too, now, though his new tunic was only faintly singed. The others all had bloody gashes or gnarly bruises in varying states of healing. Rapid regeneration or not, getting hurt was unpleasant, and it seemed the others didn't heal quite as fast as he did. For whatever reason.

As he eagerly watched a new spit of Ofrenok meat begin roasting, Felix toggled his notifications for his training.

Fire Resistance is level 18!

Heat Resistance is level 18!

Acrobatics is level 23!

Physical Conditioning is level 22!

Long Blade Mastery is level 13!

Axe Mastery is level 5!

Staff Mastery is level 7!

Blunt Weapon Mastery is level 8!

Armored Skin is level 22!

Meditation is level 31!

Bastion of Will is level 30!

Dual Casting is level 15!

Acid Stream is level 23!

Shadow Whip is level 21!

Holy hell, the hits keep comin'. His Skill was improving significantly thanks to these training sessions. He had incorporated Harn's advice on switching out weapons, giving himself a chance to get better at all of them. Most of these were simple one or two point jumps, but he felt suddenly...better; more knowledgeable, though he couldn't for the life of him pinpoint where this knowledge originated. Felix had long since experienced a vague instinctual knowledge when it came to Skills, so perhaps this was the same effect, only amplified due to the larger amount of gains?

Either way, despite his aches and bruises, it was a morning well spent.

Now to eat some fucking grub.

Felix barely waited for the meat to cool, cutting off huge chunks and putting them away at a rapid pace. He was dimly aware of the others staring at him, but honestly he didn't care. He had to feed this strange, superhuman body he had created. By the time the meat was all gone, Felix had eaten around half his own weight in protein.

And I could still go for a bit more. He shook his head. This new metabolism is wild. He side eyed Evie's plate as he idly played with his empty platter.

She rolled her eyes and scraped the rest of her food onto his plate. "You're a monster."

Felix only grinned and said, "But it's so good."

Vessilia sniffed, still picking at her food. "It is...a challenging meal, I'd say."

"You don't like it?" Felix mumbled through a mouthful. "It's just the right amount of spicy, I think."

"It is not that," Vessilia frowned, before setting her silverware down on her plate. She looked up at Felix. "Why aren't you exhausted?"

"Hm?" Felix paused, mid-bite as juices ran down his chin. He swallowed. "Oh, my Stamina isn't too bad off, especially now that we're resting."

"Feh, speak for yourself," Evie said, leaning back against the step behind her. "I'm barely passed 20% now. Ain't gonna be fit to do real fighting for an hour, at least."

"That is my point. Felix you fought all of us, repeatedly. Often with little breaks. How?" Felix could feel the others lean in toward him, each of them eager in their own way to hear the answer.

"I've got, uh, some pretty good Endurance. Plus, I've got a few helpful Titles," Felix started to explain, before every one of them simple nodded quickly and looked away.

What the hell?

"Did I say something wrong?" Felix looked between them all, eyebrow raised. "Do you not talk about Titles?"

Atar pursed his lips before responding. "One does not speak of their Titles with just anyone. Not a civilized person, at least."

"It's like revealing your strengths and weaknesses and exposin' a trump card," Evie explained. "And having stuff close to the chest can keep you alive."

"Well, can you tell me how people get a Title? In a general sort of way?" Felix prodded, unsatisfied with their evasions.

"You have some, correct?" Vess asked.

"Mhm, some." It was hard but he kept his face straight for that one.

"How did you get them? Generally speaking, of course. Was there a lot of emotion and stress involved?" Vessilia picked delicately at her food, eating one small piece after another with her little fork.

"Oh, yeah. Almost all of them were like that." He blinked. "So Titles are like Skills? They are only garnered when you, what, meet a prerequisite and are stressed out?"

"Heightened emotional state, as it was called by my tutors. Titles and Skills, as you pointed out, are two sides of the same coin; the System is pushing them onto you due to circumstance, need, and strain. The more of any of those and you'll have high likelihood of gaining one." Vessilia gestured with her hands, ticking off each prerequisites.

"So what's an easy, common Title then?" Felix asked.

"Ehhh, hard to say," Evie supplied, her mouth still full. Does she do that on purpose? Shit. Do I look like that when I eat? His hand, which held a piece of orange meat, paused midway to his mouth. Vessilia kept talking.

"It tends to vary from person to person, though most professions usually employ similar Titles. Those are passed down by master to apprentice during training, I understand."

"Passed down? As in the circumstances are repeatable?" Felix asked.

"Of course, bumpkin. In fact, my Master passed down unto me several of his Titles and Skills," Atar said, puffing up in pride. "Sparkbolt and Spirit Immolation are my prized possessions."

Felix opened his mouth, impressed despite himself. "Does that mean you started off at a high Skill level? Or just that it ensured you learned the same thing? Is there a worry about learning a slightly different version of the same Skill?"

"Calm down, man!" Evie laughed, slapping him on the back. It felt like a piece of paper hitting his shoulder. "How many questions you got in that head'a yours?"

Felix laughed, a little self-consciously. It's a hard line to walk, asking enough to learn but not enough to raise suspicious even further. "Too many, I think," he laughed it off, hoping to throw them off the scent of his strange ignorance.

Vessilia cleared her throat, and looked a bit uncomfortable for some reason. "Your tutors...were they not concerned with this aspect of your training?"

"My what?" Felix laughed. "No, no tutors for this guy. Self-taught, if you can believe it," Felix added sardonically. She sighed and leaned back, her armor creaking slightly.

"Oh we can believe it," Atar muttered. Evie gave him a look, but he just smiled innocently.

"You're kind of an ass, huh? That punch didn't knock any common decency loose, did it?" Felix asked. Atar screwed up his face, ready to retort with vitriol, but was interrupted by Evie's braying laugh.

"Haah haaahaha!" The young woman spit up a wad of meat into the fire, nearly choking. "Haha, shit. That's good."

"Alright enough fun, I think," came Magda's voice. The four straightened and turned, looking toward the arched stairwell where Magda was standing, arms akimbo.

"Time for a real challenge."

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