Hunter’s hypothesis was proven correct. It had taken him the entirety of the first day to eliminate half the total ghorum population in the Rift. He started with the monsters that were closest to the trail and then continued in a ring of slaughter until he was on the opposite side of Snodgrass from the Sanctuary. When he reached halfway, he checked the position of the sun and realized that he needed to head back if he wanted to reach safety before the sun went down. Thanks to Shadow of the Black Wind, he had plenty of buffs to keep him alive in the dark, but he was taking his near brush with death to heart.

The young warrior was riding the high of victory when he arrived back at the Sanctuary. He was tired but satisfied in a way that he couldn’t remember. He had only run into trouble once on his hunt and to be frank, Aquila had saved his ass. Hunter had grown overconfident near the end of his quest and neared a demon to finish it with a wind lance before it had been entirely disabled. It had hit him with a glancing blow that had cracked his shoulder, broken his arm, and ruined his clothing once again. If Aquila hadn’t swooped down to stun the ghorum, there was a good chance Hunter wouldn’t be standing in the Sanctuary’s armory picking out new clothes.

It wasn’t like Hunter had many options. There were only white and gray sets of clothes. Evidently, those were the only two colors that the Heavenly Host encourages their adherents to wear. As he picked up a tunic, he considered using his Progenitor power to attune the clothing to him. It might make his clothing more robust, but he didn’t see any real benefits from transforming the basic equipment. His greed items had only provided basic climate control and a little bit of stealth. Those effects had already been advanced by his skills.

Besides, there’s only one piece of clothing that has stuck it out with me all this time. Wait…

His mind went into overdrive. Why had he never considered rewarding his most loyal piece of clothing? Hunter stripped out of his ruined Jedi-costume until he was left in just his boxers. He relaxed into the mental space that allowed him to manipulate his mana. Over time, the process had become almost effortless. Hunter pooled his swirling mana into his palm where it coalesced into black wind. He felt the familiar shift as his passive skill engaged and the wind swirled around his boxers. He watched as the fabric turned from a dingy beige to silky black. He saw small, silver silhouettes of eagles pop-up like glittering stars on a field of black. When the visual transformation was complete, the boxers started to shrink until they turned into boxer-briefs. They were comfortable but Hunter still scowled. He didn’t like briefs but he checked the description anyway.

Second Skin of the Black Wind (Lvl 20): This unique undergarment is designed to be worn underneath clothing. This item uses Black Wind to cleanse itself, regulate body temperature, and when in battle, protect the user’s groin with concentrated wind. This is a novelty item and cannot be improved.

Hunter laughed out loud, and Aquila tilted its head in confusion from its perch on an empty table.

“No worries, my friend! I just received my best item since coming to the Rift; self-cleaning underwear!”

The eagle didn’t seem impressed. It ignored Hunter and preened its feathers. Its lack of enthusiasm didn’t bother Hunter.

“Whatever, Aquila. You just wish you had underwear too.”

Hunter dismissed the bird with a wave and changed into his spare change of clothes. After that, he disposed of his destroyed ones by throwing them in the forge in the crafting room. Hunter was impressed that not a whiff of smoke escaped the forge.

Man, I need to learn some sort of crafting skill.

When Hunter was done with his post-battle chores, he checked the stats he had gained for the day’s hunt. He still hadn’t received an attribute point from Breath of the Black Wind, but he had earned a single point in Faith, which was much better. He had gained it halfway through his ghorum hunt. Its appearance confirmed Hunter’s theory that mucking about with stronger demons increased their corruption. Since he had a way fo converting Faith into something more useful to him, he thought about spending more time at the Outpost. Surely, that concentration of greed would increase the rate of his Faith and thus, grow his attributes.

Beyond the Faith, he had made significant gains in the rest of his sheet. All of his resistances had gone up by one. This had caused his Pain Resistance to reach level ten and he was rewarded a new path by the same name.

His other gains were evenly spread across his skills. He earned two levels in Gale Rush, Tempest Strikes, Eye of the Hurricane, Wind Lance, and Wind Augmentation. He earned one level in Black Tornado, Soul Bond, Second Wind, Black Wind Evasion, Kata of the Black Wind, Progenitor of the Black Wind, and Breath of the Black Wind.

In total, he was now sitting at twenty Path Points. He didn’t have paths that he could complete and he wanted to start banking them for a more expensive path anyway. Mind of Will seemed like a good upgrade or he could wait even longer and get his first Path, Rift Walker.

Not only that but so far every skill that leveled to ten had provided a path. There were a number of skills that were close to hitting that threshold. If he had another day like today—which he would—then tomorrow he might have several Paths that he could pick from.

The only thing Hunter could do was convert his Faith into five free attributes which he placed into Endurance. Since there wasn’t much more that Hunter could accomplish with his stat sheet, he decided to grind a different skill until he was ready to go to sleep. The warrior walked back to the crafting room and took a look at the familiar shelf of books. Just as before there were hundreds of books on various topics. Most of them were related to crafting skills, but he saw a few that were related to combat. He found one related to staffs and another in hand-to-hand combat.

Hunter wasn’t sure what he could learn from a book, but he hoped that it would give him a base to work from. Both of the tomes were relatively thin, so he figured he could learn at least a little bit from each one. The warrior retrieved both books and took them back to the barracks.

When he arrived, he sat on his bed and opened the staff fighting guide. He sent a small prayer of thanks that these books had pictures. The first couple of chapters only talked about a few fundamental concepts. The first chapter covered his stance. He learned that his feet should be shoulder-width apart with one foot in front of the other. Hunter’s dominant foot was supposed to be facing his opponent with his other foot as support. Hunter had already been doing that because it felt natural, but it was nice to have it codified.

The handling of his staff was a little bit more complicated. It wasn’t that the material was complicated, only that it talked about holding the staff at the base with Hunter’s non-dominant hand. Since his upgrades in Dexterity, Hunter didn’t have a non-dominant or dominant hand. He had been using the staff with his left because that was what he was familiar with, but it seemed that he was doing it wrong.

He got up from his bed and snatched up his staff. After that, Hunter made sure the book was open to the pictures he needed. While studying the book, he fell into a stance that mirrored the picture in the book. After that, he placed his right hand on the base of the staff, and his left hand a quarter up its length like he was holding a sword. He practiced some downward strikes until he felt like he understood the movement well enough.

When Hunter was done with that, he shifted his hands until they were placed a third and two-thirds up the length of the weapon. when he felt comfortable, he started sparring against an imaginary opponent. He threw his spire up to block an imagined downward strike, he used small movements to pivot attacks to the side, and he twisted his hips and cracked the ankles of his ghostly opponent to perform a sweep.

When Hunter was sure that he knew how to do these basic movements, he mixed it up. He felt the wind stir up around him as he spun around phantom strikes and replied with his own. He leaped into the air to bring his spire to the ground in a wind-assisted downward strike. When his feet landed on the ground, he only let them settle for a fraction of a second before he was whirling in an approximation of his Tempest Strikes.

Hunter practiced these movements as time became meaningless. Sweat dripped down his body and his clothes became sodden with his exertions. Hunter became one with his staff as he imagined himself like a great eagle. Each downward stroke was Aquila diving with claws outstretched. Every pivot was a flap of wings that swept away an opponent's attack. When he thrust his spire forward, he imagined it was the talons of his companion cleaving away flesh and bone. Each action and the evasive maneuver was aided by the wind. The same force that allowed his eagle to soar, was the same power behind every attack.

Hunter was breathing heavily as time returned to its normal flow. At some point, Aquila had followed him into the barracks and was watching Hunter’s actions with platinum-colored eyes. It sat on the top bunk of his bed and seemed completely in tune with Hunter’s exercise. At that moment, the young warrior felt like he understood his feathered friend better than he ever had. He felt like one with his companion and it seemed the Archives recognized his efforts.

Congratulations! You have earned the Passive Skill: Staff Mastery

Synergy detected.

Evolution initiated.

Staff Mastery has been absorbed by Kata of the Black Wind. Due to your efforts, you have unlocked the following Subsidiary Skills:

-Eagle Stance

-Diving Eagle

-Wing Sweep

-Reverse Talon

-Rising Wind

-Downward Gust

Subsidiary Skills do not level, but using them will cause Kata of the Black Wind to develop faster. Higher levels of Kata of the Black Wind will provide qualitative changes to its Subsidiary Skills.

Hunter was miffed about missing out on another chance of leveling. However, the change to his stat sheet was just a recognition of the change to his fighting style. With Kata of the Black Wind affecting the underlying skills, he felt more natural using the skills. It was a combat style that matched how he already fought. They were quick, powerful techniques that gave him the freedom to dodge and deflect. If this was the progress he could attain while reading a book. Hunter wondered what a true master would teach him. After he escaped the Rift, he would have to track down some kind of monk to teach him more advanced maneuvers. He couldn’t wait to practice the hand-to-hand fighting.

Hunter checked the time and realized that he should probably sleep. The skills he learned were nice, but they wouldn’t help him against a ghorum. It might just put the hurt on a tiefling, though. Hunter practiced the forms in his mind, as he showered and got ready for bed. Tomorrow would be just as interesting as today.

The first thing Hunter did when waking up the next morning was start going through his forms. He wanted to make sure he had everything he learned down perfectly. A second of hesitation and he could be blood splatter on the ground. When Hunter was satisfied with his morning exercise, he sat down in a lotus position with his staff across his lap. He started to practice his meditation and imagined the mana in his surrounding floating through his body. He couldn’t be sure, but he felt it helped his Breath of the Black Wind. Overnight, he had earned a point in Vitality and another in Dexterity after his meditation. It seemed that the points were awarded in sequential order on his stat sheet. He wished he could control which attributes increased.

His new morning routine complete, Hunter threw his two new books into his storage ring, gathered up Aquila, and left the Sanctuary. Hunter had noticed that Aquila was far more affectionate this morning than before. Hunter chalked it up to his new abilities. The warrior probably seemed more like kin to the bird. They shared a bloodline, an elemental affinity, and now a fighting style. It wasn’t quite the pet taming ability Hunter had hoped for. Instead, the Soul Bond seemed to work both ways.

Before taking off, Hunter used his once-a-day power to transform his boots. He activated the ability, watched them change color to match his bracer, and then checked their description.

Windstriders (Lvl 20): These unique boots help the user travel as fast as the wind. While worn, these boots provide a boost to movement-related skills by increasing their efficiency and leveling speed. Additionally, the user can spend twenty-five mana to create a platform of compressed air underneath each step. This effect has a maximum height of six feet.

Well, that’s cool. From what Hunter could tell, the boots would allow him to strike targets that were taller than him in vulnerable places like their head and throat. It was convenient because if a ghorum stood on its hind legs, they were far taller than Hunter and it was difficult to hit to get them with Wind Lance.

Hunter shooed Aquila off of his shoulder, which earned him a peck in return, before testing out his new boots. It took a measure of will to make the effect activate, but soon it was like ice skating through the air. It burned through his mana quickly, so he had to stop. It wasn’t a method of travel, but a way of increasing his options in battle. Overall, he enjoyed the sensation. Maybe when he finally earned levels, it could be a way of fast-traveling over obstructions. Hunter dropped from the air and broke into a sprint. He headed toward his first target.