Sword Sage - Tier II class. Rare.

Abilities:

Timeshift - Speeds up time. Speed proportional to stamina used on an increasing scale.

Weak Spot - You may perceive your enemy’s vulnerable points. Your Swords skill level will determine the quality of perception.

Power Strike - Damage is increased proportional to stamina used on an increasing scale.

Rafe had pulled out some healing potions from his pack. Barnabas and five of Duke Benedict’s soldiers had been healed well enough to be able to ride, though none were truly combat ready. The body of the sixth soldier was strapped to a horse that followed the rest of the party. Amelia and Rose had both had their own healing potions. Clara had insisted that she didn’t need any because she was only suffering from mana drain and just needed to wait while her mana recovered.

“Veritas, I need some help here. I don’t understand what this class does. Why did you have me choose it? I see that it’s rare so I know that’s good, but I don’t understand the descriptions of its abilities.”

Sword Sage is indeed a rare class. As you can see, it is Tier II. It’s not usually available unless you are at least Journeyman level. You’re very fortunate to have been offered this class.

“Okay, I believe you, but what are these abilities? What does it mean that something is proportional to the stamina used?”

A great warrior needs three things: speed, accuracy, and power. Let’s start with the easiest. Weak Spot for accuracy.

“I think I know what that one is. When I was fighting the trolls, at times parts of their bodies would light up, and somehow I knew that they would be vulnerable in those areas.”

Yes, that’s correct. Weak Spot helps you know where best to hit your enemies in such a way as to inflict the most damage. As your Swords skill increases, your understanding of where and how to hit your opponents will improve. You will be able to see gradients of where to attack to do small, moderate, or critical amounts of damage.

“What about these other abilities? Timeshift and Increased Damage?”

Did you notice that you no longer have Flashpoint?

I glanced at my Status. She was right. Flashpoint was no longer listed.

Flashpoint has been subsumed into your class. Timeshift can give you what Flashpoint once did, but is much more flexible. Though it was never shown to you, Flashpoint has an upper limit of how quickly it will allow you to move. Timeshift has none. However, the more speed you require, the faster you will burn your stamina.

“When I fought the Troll Brute, everything seemed to slow down more than ever before. Everyone was moving so slowly--like sap rolling down a tree--but when I let myself slow down, it was as if my stamina had bottomed out to almost nothing.”

Exactly. You moved so fast that you burned through all your stamina in moments. You must learn to use this ability properly, Paol. You’re like a baby cobra. Baby cobras don’t know how to control their venom and will use it all in one bite. It is only as they grow that they learn to measure out how much to use for different sized victims. Similarly, you need to learn how to dole out your stamina incrementally so that you don’t use it all at once.

“Do you know the...uh...proportion? How it measures out?”

Concentrate on the ability. It should make itself clear to you.

I focused on the words, and they blurred and then reformed.

Timeshift - Speeds up time. Uses 1 stamina/minutes for every 5% of increased speed up to 100%. Uses 2 stamina/minute for every 5% of increased speed from 105% to 200%. Uses 4 stamina/minute for every 5% of increased speed from 205% to 300%. Uses 8 stamina/minute for every…

I started calculating in my head. To double my speed would require 20 stamina/minute. For another 100% increase in speed to push me to moving three times as fast as normal would require 20 stamina/minute plus 40 stamina/minute for a total of 60 stamina/minute. If I wanted to increase my speed to quadruple my normal speed, it would require 20 stamina/minute plus 40 stamina/minute plus 80 stamina/minute for a total of 140 stamina/minute. With 190 stamina, I could move at quadruple my normal speed for less than a minute and 20 seconds, but then I’d be exhausted and probably completely comatose.

If I wanted to go even faster, I guessed that I would need to use 16 stamina/minute from 305% to 400%.

“This is amazing, Veritas. Dangerous, though. I don’t think I was using the ability for more than 10 or 15 seconds when fighting the Troll Brute before I was almost completely drained. I must have been moving at something like five times my usual speed to have lost all my stamina so fast.”

Yes. It’s an incredible ability, but you’ll need to learn how to husband your stamina properly. A master can turn it on and off in small bursts, allowing him to use stamina sparingly and only as needed. You’ll need a lot of practice before you can do that.

Wow, that really was incredible. Rafe...and Michael...must be able to do something like that. At their levels, they must have both chosen some kind of ability that gave them the speed at which I had seen them move.

Finally we have Power Strike. As you can see, the description is almost identical to Timeshift except that it increases damage, not speed.

I read through the description, and it was indeed very similar. I thought for a moment.

I could move at triple my normal speed for 60 stamina per minute. For another 20 stamina per strike, every attack that I made would do double damage. Or 60 stamina per strike for triple damage. I wouldn’t be able to keep up that kind of pace for long, but in a short fight I would be unbeatable!

Okay, maybe not unbeatable. I would have to test it the next time we sparred, but I suspected that Rafe would still be able to kick me around without breaking a sweat.

I grinned.

Rose might not find me such easy prey anymore, though.

Daydreams of smacking aside the smug, light-haired swordswoman’s weapon and spanking her with Veritas danced through my head until we came to an abrupt halt.

Rafe growled, “We’ll take a short break. Everyone drink some water.”

We all dismounted and stretched our legs. Clara went to check on all those who had been hurt, making sure that the most grievous injuries had healed properly. Rafe murmured to Amelia who nodded sharply and looked around at the trees around us before choosing the tallest and rapidly climbing it.

I stepped over to Rafe.

“Who was she? That woman. Kali.”

The dark-skinned man hesitated and then answered, “Once, she was a friend. A good friend.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he grimaced.

“I guess that’s no longer the case. She wasn’t always...like what you saw. She was different before.”

I examined his face carefully. His eyes were lost in memory, and I saw pain in them.

He shocked his head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s my fault. You heard her. She came looking for me and I…”

Rafe’s voice trailed off. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

“I guess I had lost hope, so I can’t really blame her for losing her way.”

“Then she is one of the Two Hundred?” I asked softly so that no one would hear.

He nodded.

“Yes. She is no goddess. She’s just a woman. Mind you, she’s a very powerful woman--far beyond you or any of the others in this little party. If I hadn’t been here, you’d all most likely be dead.”

“Is she really so bloodthirsty?”

The other man hesitated.

“I don’t know. Perhaps she would have been content with making you prisoners after getting whatever information she needed.”

His lips tightened.

“But Cyril. He would have shown you no mercy. He would have killed all of you and laughed while doing it. That man is a psychopath, and you should pray that you never face him alone.”

I hesitated before saying, “Rafe, I have a question.”

He glanced at me and quirked his eyebrow.

Taking that for permission, I let out in a rush, “If there are only two hundred of you in the world, how could I be meeting so many of you? The odds must be astronomical!”

I started counting off on my fingers.

“Julius, Kyrie, you, Michael, Kali, Ve--”

I shut my mouth with an audible snap as my teeth clicked together.

His eyes narrowed for a moment before he relaxed and corrected me, “Jenya. Not Kali. Her name is Jenya.”

Whew. I guess he hadn’t noticed my slip of tongue.

He frowned as he considered my question.

“It’s true that bumping into so many of us in such a short period of time is highly unlikely.”

I offered, “Kyrie seemed to think I’d have no problems finding you, even though I had no idea who you were or what you looked like. Why would he think that?”

Rafe opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it again, and then cocked his head at me.

“Paol, what is your Spirit attribute?”

I glanced at my Status and answered, “Ninety-nine.”

The other man’s eyes went wide.

“Ninety-nine? Are you joking?”

I shook my head.

“No, why? What is Spirit for?’

“It’s part of the ga--uh, it’s hard to describe. It’s a measure of your...weight...in this world. That’s one way to describe it I guess. The higher your Spirit, the more likely it is that the things that happen to you will have an influence on the world at large, and your actions will be more impactful on everyone and everything around you. I’m sorry, I know that’s not a very helpful explanation, but to be honest it’s not something that anyone understands fully. But if you can get the gist of that, you can see that it only makes sense that people with a high Spirit attribute would often be drawn near each other by the circumstances that surround them.

I nodded slowly. “You’re right, your explanation isn’t that clear, but it does help a little. Thank you. Do you mind me asking what your Spirit is?”

He gave me a small smile.

“I’ll show you yours if you show me mine? Okay, I guess. It’s only fair. My Spirit is eighty.”

My brow furrowed. “What’s considered a high Spirit then?”

“All of the Two Hundred have a high Spirit attribute. The lowest I’ve heard of among us is fifty. Normal people rare go above twenty or thirty. A ruler might go above that. It’s the reason we all end up in adventures or meeting important people or falling into dungeons. Sometimes, your Spirit score can increase, but no one really knows what causes that.”

“I see. What’s the highest Spirit score you’ve ever heard of?” I asked curiously.

He was quiet for a moment. “One hundred. That’s the highest that I know of, and I’ve only ever heard of one person having a Spirit attribute so large.”

“And who was that?”

Rafe looked me straight in the eye as he answered me.

“Kyrie.”