Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Knuckleball

Chapter 14: Knuckleball

 

Parth found himself in yet another training hall. Celeste had scheduled the team’s first training session at ten in the morning. It was supposed to go on till lunch, after which they would take a break and resume once more in the evening.

That was not enough for him. He had already finished his early morning run and had sparred with the triplets. They even did a mock two-on-two battle with Parth and Amber in a team, against Opal and Zircon. It was a good session overall. He got more used to fighting four-legged creatures the more he trained with the sisters.

Opal, in particular, had gotten the hang of materializing her mana construct quickly. Fighting against a Gryphon made out of mana was an experience in itself. 

After that training session, he had partaken in a hearty breakfast and taken a short nap. And now, he was back in action, standing alongside his teammates.

There was not an ounce of fatigue in him. He knew that it wouldn’t be the case by the end of the day. But for all that he had done earlier in the morning, he was still unfazed. After what Celeste had said about his almost perfect sync rate, he had dug deeper into it. He hadn’t found much on the public boards about the sync rates. But he had confirmed something that he already knew. Mana grew with time and usage. His reserves were like muscles, growing with the proper exercise.

Given that he had the potential to boast the largest mana reserves, he decided to double down on the training. The fact that his tank was almost back to full spoke volumes about the wonders of the sync rate.

He glanced at Moira and saw that she had already warmed up and was ready for the training session. It made sense that an athlete would be prepared for such.

Kwame was fidgeting nervously, but he too looked prepared for the upcoming combat training.

He knew that the both of them had never gotten into a fight in their lives. So, for them to dive into combat training, and subsequently into the dungeon was not good. Even despite his training, he hadn’t taken part in unregulated, no holds barred combat. Except for the golem, of course. Everyone here had fought one.

With a few gestures, he placed a reminder on his ring to check his teammates' combat footage later. They had a shared drive accessible for their usage, and it contained the combat footage from all their trials. He hadn't read anything about their artifacts beforehand because he wanted to see them in action firsthand. He'd most definitely read up on them later. But for the first time, he wanted to witness the magic with his own two eyes.

The door opened, and in walked three D’Raacs. In the center was a middle-aged man. His white hair was clipped short on the sides and was combed neatly on the top. Framing his red face was a neatly trimmed white beard. He wore heavy, sleeveless robes that stopped just below his Knees. Given that he had six arms, sleeves would have ballooned his torso comically. The robe itself was made out of an expensive-looking golden fabric with black accents. The color scheme was the opposite of the uniform he had seen Celeste and the other advisors wear. It must be intentional, since he hadn't seen Lady Nakiri wear anything like that. Finishing his ensemble were tapered black pants and a pair of boots the same color as the robes. 

It was obvious that this was their patron, Serval Kach. Parth didn’t know much about the man. He knew that he was allied with Roul’s patron. He also knew that this man was the one who had shown an interest in Parth’s results and had initiated the trade. But he could see that this was no lazy noble. His arms were muscular, making him look imposing. Coupled with his large torso, it gave off an air of strength. Unlike Roul, whose six lanky arms often hung harmlessly on his side.

Walking to his left was Celeste, clad in her black and gold cheongsam. On the other side was an old man who seemed close in age to caretaker Gyn. His white hair had lost its luster and was more of a dull grey now. Although, there was not much hair on his head for it to matter. His skin was wrinkly, and several scars marred his face. But that was where the markers of age ended. He was tall; taller than anyone in the room. He was brawny, even more so than Lord Kach. He wore military fatigues. Two guns were holstered on his hips, and he carried two polearms in his hands. Parth could also see two knives strapped to his thighs; one on each leg. Finally, a shield was strapped to his back.

It was pretty clear who was going to be their trainer.

“Good morning Voyagers. I’d like to introduce you to your patron, Lord Serval Kach,” said Celeste.

As they all greeted him in unison, he nodded at them in response and looked at them for a couple of seconds. Parth fought his impulse to fidget, and stood still. Kwame was not as successful and began fidgeting with his hoodie. Moira, on the other hand, was scrutinizing the newcomers.

"Greetings, Voyagers. I am glad to be your patron. I know that this is not the best place for a meeting. I will schedule one in the coming days so that we can all get together and speak about what is to come. At this juncture, I just wanted to assure you that I will do my best to get you through this ordeal," he said.

“Thank you, Lord Kach,” said Parth, and the others followed suit.

“In that regard, this here is Colonel Don Bensen. I have drafted him to train all of you for combat," said Serval, and gestured to the old man to speak. The name was unlike some of the D’Raacs he had met. But then again, only the noble families had the apostrophe in their names. Even Lord Kach's name did not have one.

“I’m Don. Retired Tava Military Colonel. I have spent my entire life fighting on the front lines and leading soldiers. I won't coddle you. My job is to ensure that you can survive the dungeon. I will do just that," he said in a no-nonsense tone.

“I hope all of you learn well from the Colonel. As I said, my goal is your survival. I won’t ask you to win. Talks about winning the Centurial Challenge can be done later. When the dungeon is done with, when the true danger is over, we will entertain such thoughts. I will be happy as long as all three of you make it out of the dungeon for good,” Serval intoned. 

“Do you have any questions for us right now?” said Celeste as she looked at the three voyagers.

Parth pondered for a moment and then spoke.

“It’s not a question per se. I know that we have an alliance with another team. Recently, I’ve made friends with a different team. I even met their patron. She said that she would be willing to work with me, as long as I can help the kids survive.”

“By any chance, was the patron Nakiri Tetsuyumi?” asked Serval at once. Two of his hands began typing something into the holo screen the next instant.

“Yes.”

“Please tell me everything,” he said, and Parth complied.

For the next few minutes, he told them about how he met the triplets and subsequently, Lady Nakiri. Then he recited the details about the daily training schedule he undergoes with the kids.

“So, you didn’t promise anything concrete?” asked Serval, seeking confirmation.

"Nothing as such. But I will help the kids regardless, and I'm sure that they will do the same if the need arises," said Parth. He was determined about this. They were good kids, and he wasn’t keen on seeing them die. If he came across them inside the dungeon, he would help them if they needed it.

 Serval was silent for a few seconds before he spoke up.

“I will talk to Lady Nakiri about this. We could have pushed for concessions. But it looks like it is more of a friendship than a transactional alliance. It works well for us. No hard commitments on our part. Mutual aid alone sounds good,” he said. Parth could see that he wasn't against it, but the man maintained enough of a poker face to gauge nothing else.

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“We will have proper talks later. For now, I want all of you to focus on your training. It is crucial that you learn to fight together,” he said and bid them farewell.

“All the best. We’ll talk later guys,” said Celeste as both patron and advisor walked out of the training hall.

Don now stood opposite them, alone and unbothered by anything. Parth gave the old man another once over and realized that his weapon loadout had everything. The two pistols for range. Polearms, knives, and even bare fists for melee. Not to mention the shield for defense. 

He was glad that he didn’t have to fight six armed people inside the dungeon. It would be a nightmare unless the power difference was huge.

“I want to see what each of you can do with your artifacts first. I have seen your fights against the golems. Let us see whether there has been any improvement or not. Knuckleball, you first,” the retired colonel grumbled. 

Kwame gulped and walked to the center of the massive gymnasium. The next moment, Don tapped something on his screen, and several holographic targets formed in the massive training hall. Some moving, some immobile. Kwame looked at the targets and then turned towards Don and raised an eyebrow.

“Go on,” the old man grumbled.

“Alright then,” said Kwame as he raised his right hand, palm facing upwards.

Parth could see a spherical tattoo on the palm. It glowed for a second, and a metal ball appeared, hovering a good few inches above his palm. The Knuckleball was, to be frank, a ball. It was the same size as a baseball. The composition was metallic, colored a gunmetal grey. Thin lines ran across its surface, glowing with a blue light.

In an instant, it shot forward and smashed into the closest target. Kwame put his hands in his pocket as the ball moved around the large training hall, taking out the targets in quick succession. It took out all the targets in front of him and stopped in midair as there was nothing to hit in that area.

With blinding speed, it moved toward the other end of the hall. Kwame turned around right as the ball whizzed past him. Parth couldn’t even keep track of it for a second as its speed surpassed what he had previously seen. There was even a cracking sound right near the end.

The moment it smashed into the target furthest from them, it stopped abruptly.

Once more, it repeated the process, taking out the targets in that area of the gymnasium. Within no time, it had taken out all of the targets in sight and returned to Kwame. He didn't change his posture at all and allowed it to orbit around him.

"Fifty targets in a sixty-three seconds. Is there any way you could have done better?" Don asked.

Kwame knit his eyebrows in concentration as he thought hard.

“I could have taken out the outer targets first and then moved in,” he made a guess.

"Yes. You used the artifact like a wrecking ball, and only used its ability to cover the distance. You could have used the ability more. Aiming for targets in a straight line, getting more targets out in a shorter time," he said.

“I suppose I could,” Kwame agreed after a second.

“We’ll work more on strategy. Explain to your teammates what your artifact can do. You all need to know each other’s capabilities,” the old man said.

“Ah, yeah. So, I can telekinetically control this ball. It is very durable, as all artifacts are. The special ability is that for every fifteen meters it travels in a straight line, its speed doubles. The moment I change the trajectory though it’ll start losing speed rapidly. It can also do this,” he said as several sharp blades protruded from the ball, and then went back in.

At a first glance, it sounded like a simple artifact in comparison to others. But it was far from the truth. With such a multiplicative force in place, such an object could easily reach the speed of sound in about sixty meters. If thrown as fast as a professional player, that is. Here, there was no need to throw it. Kwame could control it with his mind. He could make it go way faster than that. At that speed, he could punch through concrete walls with ease. When he deployed the blades on it, it would make things even worse.

“How do you control it?” asked Moira.

"I can feel it all the time. Like a sixth sense. So, whatever I tell it to do, it does," he said.

“You can’t sense what’s around it, correct? That’s why you had to turn around when it went to the other side of the gym. You can control it with your thoughts. But if you don’t know what’s around it, you can’t really direct it to a correct position,” said Parth.

"Correct. For example, if the Knuckleball is in the next room. I can still feel it, I can still control it. But I wouldn't know what's around it. So my control can only be effective within my line of sight. Once it goes beyond sight, there's only guesswork. There's a range to how far it goes too. It'll return to me once it exceeds the range. Something about how my mana is transmitted to it over distance. I've been told that it'll improve over time," he said.

“Ah, so no doubling until it goes around the planet and then obliterating everything,” said Moira.

Parth chuckled as he thought about the Infinite Mass Punch that The Flash did. It was the same principle. Alas, they wouldn’t be able to witness anything like that.

“Can’t do that even if it was possible. My mana won’t allow it,” retorted Kwame.

“How’s the consumption like anyway? I guess it won’t be that straightforward,” mused Parth. His was pyrokinesis. The more fire he generated, the more he attempted to control, the more mana it took. How would it even work in Kwame’s case?

“It takes a tiny amount of mana to control its movements. Almost negligible. Most of the consumption comes from the speed boosts. Each multiplier takes mana. If it is going slow, then the boost doesn’t eat much. But in case of consecutive boosts where a large amount of speed is boosted even further, the consumption is high.”

All this effectively meant that, given enough space, Kwame could take out immobile targets easily. Moving targets would be an issue since his control cannot keep up with the thing after a certain speed. So the best bet in those cases would be to judge the trajectory and let it rip in a straight line.

It had its pros and cons, but with enough teamwork and planning, the Knuckleball could easily be a game changer.

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