Chapter 42: Chapter 42 Skill combinations

The next day was much like the others. A different team of trainees went out, full of braggadocio at breakfast. Nathan silently wished them well. The leader, whose name Nathan didn't know, seemed like a bit of an arrogant jerk. But that only meant Nathan hoped he lived to learn.

Classes were a bit more subdued. Jolba wasn’t teaching, and they had a farther-ranging geography lesson around a large map spread over a central table. Gemore was in the center of the map, at the nexus of the four cardinal transit roads. The vast ruins of Old Gemore spread around it. Almost directly East of Gemore was Giantsrest, marked with many towers. Between them lay a large mountain range. This map didn’t have very many dungeons marked, but Nathan knew the mountains were positively full of them. The map did have a few larger ruins, but they must be pretty large if none of the ruins Nathan had seen made the cut.

The Giantsrest town of Halsmet was in the mountains about halfway between Giantsrest and Gemore, slightly closer to Giantsrest. Nathan traced his finger slightly north of it, tapping a secluded valley. That was probably where Taeol’s Mage Tower was, though Nathan didn’t know if Taeol had gotten back there yet.

West of the mountains, foothills rolled down into plains, dotted with villages that sustained Gemore. There were almost two dozen of them, spread to the north, south and west of Gemore. Nathan found Pilriden to the North. The village that Sora and Dwoh and the other villagers Nathan had rescued had come from was far from Gemore, one of the farthest. Nathan hoped they were well.

A forest spread in an arc along the foothills, following the course of the Crescastle river as it ran down the foothills. It seemed to mark the extent of Gemore territory, and had one major bridge across it. Just a bit north of the bridge was what seemed to be marked as an active volcano.

Farther to the south was the trading port of Litcliff, which Nathan had heard very little about.

The plains to the East were dominated by Artha’s people, the Treeborn. They knew the treacherous grasslands like few else, and were a nomadic people. The Treeborn controlled trade across the vast expanse of trackless grasslands and curbed the territorial ambitions of the Agmon Empire, the orcish empire that had been mentioned a few times.

The map didn’t seem to be quite consistent with scale - Nathan had heard that the plains were much wider than the map made them look, and that there were a number of smaller cities and rivers on the other side of the plains that weren’t on the map. The image of the city on the other side seemed to say “Agmon this way” more than give a reasonable depiction of what that nation actually looked like.

Past the villages in the North the mountains became brutal - various peoples lived up there, but they were isolated and remote. Only occasionally friendly to the peoples of the Lowlands, they didn’t usually differentiate between Gemore and Giantsrest.

 

The geography lesson had been more to ensure that the Adventurers had a better understanding of the terrain surrounding Gemore than to give them a detailed rundown of the world. There were the ruins, of course, but a lot of the villages were located in foothills and forests, with abundant caves scattered around that weren’t marked on the map.

The class ended without fanfare. Next Nathan had a lesson with Velek. He was starting to get a pretty good grasp on reading. Velek concluded the session with a short comprehension test. After looking over Nathan’s written slate of answers, he nodded. “You’re not perfect, but at this point you’ll be able to pick things up from context. I would like to give you a general test tomorrow to see if there are further gaps in your knowledge that need to be rectified.”

With that, Nathan headed to lunch, and one step closer to a discussion of skills and Talents with his teammates. Not at lunch, of course. Too many listening ears. Lunch itself was good, with the main course made of a pan-fried assemblage of meats and vegetables drizzled with a sweet sauce.

Stella tried to ask Nathan some math questions, but he put her off until the evening, reminding her that he considered that an Insight.

Then, they were once again alone in the private arena. Nathan tried to ignore the depression in the sand from his misadventure last night, but found his eyes drawn back to the spot repeatedly. It hadn’t even… hurt exactly. Probably due to [Juggernaut's Wrath]. He shivered.

Khachi started out. “We’ve all probably got some things to talk about, Talent and skill-wise. Levels and Developments all around, I expect. Anybody want to go first?”

Stella stepped forward, looking frustrated. “My parents made me pick [Mage of Elemental Fury]. I got stone and air mana, and am going to need to practice with them. They gave me some new spells I need to practice a lot. I’m also supposed to work on channeling a ton of mana in short periods of time to get a handle on a new class skill that’ll improve my casting speed. I think we can all guess what that means.” She pointed towards Nathan accusingly. “Target practice.”

Nathan held up his hands defensively, half-expecting the annoyed mage to start volleying spells immediately.

Sarah spoke up next. “Nothing new for me, I had already developed my class. But… I think I’m ready to develop my mobility Talent. Stanel had a few ideas, and I think some of them might involve dodging ranged attacks. But some of them are going to involve me just jumping around like an idiot, maybe having people throw me to get higher.”

Aarl followed his sister. “Not much for me. Weapon practice, weapon practice. I have some skills ready to develop now, but I don’t think I’ll need much help for them, except maybe fighting two-on-one a bit for [Combat Awareness]."

Khachi gestured at Nathan to go next. He looked around, biting his lip. All of the Heirs seemed to have such solid plans - likely because they had such experienced advisors. To some extent their builds had been planned for years by their parents. The older Adventurers had experience on what worked and what didn’t, as well as Insights and the ability to call in debts to get more Insights. It certainly created powerful fighters - but Nathan wondered if Davrar didn’t punish the lack of spontaneity somehow.

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He didn’t have any solid evidence, just a gut feeling. Davrar rewarded risk. It rewarded putting yourself out there to achieve a goal you shouldn’t really be capable of. If you pulled it off, you leveled and ranked stuff up. If you failed, you died. It seemed philosophically consistent that the same would be true for skills. If you went out on a limb into a situation you couldn’t handle, then muddled along somehow, you’d acquire a Talent or Skill for the situation. Or develop an existing Talent or Skill that you'd used to salvage the situation.

Regardless, this was a good time to get some answers to firm up his plans. “I’ve got some plans that you can help with. But I also have some questions that I'd like to ask. First, is it possible to combine utility skills together? Or to make a utility skill a class skill, either when you Develop your class or otherwise? Basically anything where one skill influences another?”

He got a round of relatively confused looks. Aarl answered after a moment. “Why would skills… combine? No, that doesn’t happen. A utility skill is a utility skill, and it can’t combine with other utility skills, or class skills, or Talents or anything.” He shrugged. “I think even Davrar would get a headache from what could be possible.”

Khachi held out a hand, pausing to phrase his words carefully. “A detail that should be made clear. Many Insights require other skills or Talents. Sometimes this is obvious - a Talent to shape mana means that mage classes will be among those offered. Additionally, such a Talent will allow utility skills centered around mana manipulation. Some class skills will enable different Talents and skills - especially those centered around use of a resource.

“In general, skills, classes and Talents are highly dependent on one another. Your build is a build, and should be cohesive. Mobility skills and talents will enhance one another and grant classes that are able to take advantage of mobility. It is not uncommon to gain Insights related to using various skills together in new ways. I will make it clear that it is unusual to be offered skills which overlap with one another too much. It’s not supposed to happen without a powerful insight which is applied in a dangerous circumstance. Does this serve to answer your question?”

Nathan, pursed his lips, considering.

Right, I wanted to ask about [Low-tier Tumbling], which I've still got on tap. It overlaps pretty strongly with [Sprinting] and [Dodging Footwork].

So he asked the Heirs about it. “Is having overlapping skills good? If so, what’s to stop you from getting two overlapping pending skills and accepting both?”

Khachi shrugged, answering his questions in reverse order. “You can’t do that. When you get a new skill or Talent, Davrar considers all of your pending skills as well as your current skills.” Then he answered Nathan’s first question. “Overlapping skills can be quite potent. If you are able to Develop them to enhance one another, then truly incredible feats are possible. However, if the use of one precludes the other, then some other skill will usually serve you better. Are you comfortable sharing your choices?”

Nathan thought about that for a moment. He’d previously gotten a lot of help and advice from the Heirs and their parents on his skills because he’d needed it. But it was clear it had been unusual. He’d gotten a lot of critical information on how Davrar worked from them, but he could probably start keeping more secrets if he wanted to.

Beyond. You know. The secret that I'm not from Davrar.

On the other hand, this wasn’t the most critical of secrets. Especially considering the favor he was about to ask from Khachi. So, he told them.

“I have two mobility skills already. One for running quickly, one for dodging. I have another pending skill that is also a movement and dodging skill. Some of my class skills benefit from rapid movement, as well. Likely because I already had these mobility skills.” He sighed then asked the million dollar question.

“Additionally, I have a Talent slot open, and an idea for how to fill it.” Nathan pointed to Khachi. “Your mom can walk on air. I want to know if that’s a Talent, and if I can ask for the Insight behind it.”

The other Heirs had been paying attention, but not seriously. At Nathan’s question they all started paying much more attention.

Sarah whistled. “You still have a Talent slot free? That’s a will of steel.” She waved her hand around. “I know it’s common wisdom to leave it open, but how many of us truly managed that? Especially with our parents throwing around Insights.”

The other Heirs all nodded. Then they turned back to Khachi, who was figuring out his response. He spoke hesitantly, spreading his hands wide. “It is not my secret to share. I will tell you two things. This is one of the Insights that my mother guards most closely. And it is a Talent, that you might be able to learn. I have asked her the same question, and she merely told me that I would not survive the Insight.” He looked Nathan up and down, eyes lingering on the thin scars where Nathan had regrown limbs. “But you might. I will mention your interest to her. And convey that it would work well with your existing build. She may refuse to speak on the topic at all.”

He shrugged. “And I’ve never been able to convince her of anything. But you should consider what Insights you can share, or trade, for it. Or to any of us. I know the Guardians all owe each other old favors, and if you can maneuver to call those in, then it may be possible. But don’t get your hopes up. It would be impolite to compare Kia to a dragon, but….”

Nathan nodded, understanding. He’d see what he could get. He considered the pending [Low-tier tumbling]. In some ways, it was underwhelming. But it was low-tier still, and could improve. [Dodging footwork] was a nice skill, but required him to stay on his feet. It would still be useful, but this skill would allow him to dodge in more dimensions. If he ranked both up a bit, then it very much seemed like Nathan would be able to execute impossible dodges. Nathan accepted the skill.

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