Chapter 28: Chapter 27: Back Home

“Tier… Tier 5? You’re a Tier 5 weaver now?” Annabell said in disbelief after Scarlet and Maria returned home from the Hunting Season.

“A lot happened… pretty close to the beginning, actually.” Maria admitted as she patted her spider Bond. Spindle had shrunk herself back down to the size of a cat, and the torso of a human woman was also unseen in this state. The only sign that she had undergone evolution was a new pattern of yellowish fur on her bright pink body.

After the battle at the ruined former capital, Maria’s Class level had reached level 102, causing her to undergo a ‘Class Change’, going from being a ‘Spirit Weaver’ to a ‘Star Weaver’.

Before she left, she had been level 46, dreaming of maybe getting herself part way to 50. Now, she was level 102, had gained 6 new Talent Points, her Bond had Evolved and she had undergone Class Change.

Not only that, her stats had exploded. The stat gain per level difference between Tier 4 and Tier 5 was an increase of 25%, along with the number of levels she had gained, made for some considerable growth. And while you gained 10 points in all stats each level between 1-50, you gained 25 per level between 51-100, and levels 101 and 102 had given her 50 points in each of her stats.

She had gained 1415 in all her stats from basic levels alone, as well as a 60% increase in the stats she was getting from her Class.

Before, she had been in the top .1% of commoners, now her stats were much higher.

“Most people don’t find themselves caught up in that kind of encounter. And if they do, they don’t survive it. You are either one of the luckiest or unluckiest people I have ever met. I’m having a hard time deciding which.” Mehal said as he sipped his tea.

Looking at him, you would have no idea the kind of husk he had been just two months prior, as his Bond Skill, [Molting], allowed him to simply shed his damaged body parts and replace them. Even his arm had already been replaced.

Though the new skin was a bright shade of pink and would remain so for a while.

Maria’s family had been surprised when the girl and her daughter returned with the Duke’s son and his future retainers in tow, though they were getting used to seeing nobles more often than they ever thought possible.

Most came under the pretense of trying to purchase dresses from the top seamstress in the kingdom, but no one was stupid enough to believe that nobles would come in person to do such a thing. They would either send the measurements with their request or send a summons to discuss the dress in person at their own manors. So it was clear they were interested in something else.

Something like recruiting Maria and little Scarlet. Or perhaps just trying to get a gage on who the two are.

The family had been scared once or twice in the beginning by blustering nobles who were used to getting whatever they wanted out of a commoner family, but such people were silenced by Scarlet herself.

The girl might have been frightened by the prospect of physical touch and being surrounded by strangers, but she knew how to throw her weight around, and got several nobles into a lot of trouble with magic items that could record what people said. 

After the first four were arrested for attempted blackmail, vandalism and the abuse of their powers, others gave up on intimidation tactics. Though they didn’t stop trying to send requests and offers.

The problem the nobles were facing was, ‘what does someone offer people like Maria and Scarlet?’

The mother daughter pair weren’t interested in money, status, or marriage. They actually seemed sickened by the prospect of marrying into a noble family. As for knowledge and materials, they would be competing against the nation's Grand Cathedral and the Mage’s Guild. And while they weren’t the most wealthy of organizations, they did have connections all over the place.

Of course, young Charles had a much better understanding of what it took to get in the door with Scarlet. Rather than asking questions about marriage partners and trade agreements, ask about training.

---

 

“Wow! Who would have ever thought that there would be a giant training hall underneath a small shop like this!?” Raphaela shouted in disbelief as she looked about the massive gymnasium. 

The words were close enough to the ones that Scarlet was looking for to leave her brimming with happiness. Usually, people just went silent whenever she showed them this place.

She would have squealed and given the girl a hug… except… you know. No touching.

“There are changing rooms in the back. I’ve got a pretty extensive weapons’ closet over there if you feel like training a different weapon type than usual. The balancing beams and weighted pendulum are for training your dexterity and [Combat Sense], but there are some enchanted combat dummies over there if you want something more basic. Oh, and the spinning doors over there are for...” Scarlet said, introducing them to all of the different equipment she had made over the four months she had lived at the shop.

By the end of the hunting season, continuing the pattern they had set at the beginning, Scarlet had managed to grow from level 68 to level 69… which it looked like she might be stuck on for the next 3 years.

Of all the numbers to be stuck on, it just had to be THAT number. Why couldn’t it have just been an even 70, so that she could have her next Talent Point. The joke and taunt was too much to bear.

She’d love to go straight back to that ruined city next year with a recharged Mana Storage Crystal and use her [Song of the Earth] to farm the monsters that live there… but the Hunting Association had forbidden it.

They had received a very strong slap on the wrists for even being in an area that was supposed to be restricted, and only weren’t banned from hunting that season because of the fact that they joined the fight in order to save the lives of the soldiers. If they went and did it again without the Association’s permission, they would have their registration permanently revoked.

SERIOUSLY, WHY WAS THE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS BEING RESPONSIBLE AND DOING ITS JOB WHEN IT WAS GETTING IN HER WAY!?

...Well, it had been a very successful hunting season regardless.

Charles and his gang had managed to grow to level 51 hunting near the lake, using the old strategy of setting up ambushes for stronger monsters. So all of them had gained 3 Talent Points that season, Scarlet included, far more than they had dared to hope.

Which actually caused some problems as they were stumped on how to even use them for a while and had to learn new skills in order to not have them sit there gathering dust.

Scarlet had sunk 1 Talent Point into [Magic Equipment Crafting], like she had planned, but after that, things became more complicated for the final 2.

[Elemental Weapon Arts] had been a tempting option, being that it was a hybrid of magic and combat skills, but it was only a hybrid of [Evocation Magic] and weapon combat skills. Things like [Abjuration Magic], [Transmutation Magic], [Footwork], [Combat Sense], none of them would receive any benefits. Nice as the bonuses were, her elemental magics where at a pretty healthy level thanks to [Dual Evocation].

[Mystic Body], a more advanced form of [Invocationless] [Body Enhancement Magic] which focused on the physical aspect of how magic flowed in the body, was also very tempting. It would help with any skill involving the body, [Invocationless Magic], [Enhancing Magic] and [Abjuration Magic], but again, that was it.

Despite being a high value skill, [Magic Stone Fabrication] would assist [Enchanting], [Magic Equipment Crafting], [Alchemy] and basically nothing else.

They were all good skills, but their overflow benefits were limited compared to the Talent Points Scarlet had spent before.

In the end, she looked to the future to decide where to put her points in order to get there. More specifically, to reach her goals of a Hybrid weapons and magic Class.

In order to get started in that route, becoming a Tier 3 Spellsword, you only need 1 magic skill and 1 weapon skill at level 50. Scarlet already more than qualified for it. But as you progressed, the requirements became more and more steep.

Tier 4 Magic Knight required 2 forms of magic, including [Enhancing Magic], and 2 weapon skills, one of which had to be [Sword and Shield], all at level 75. Scarlet would reach the requirements there in just a few months of focused training.

But the Tier 5 Arcane Knight became more tricky. 3 forms of magic, one of which had to be [Abjuration Magic], as well as 3 combat skills, 2 of which had to be weapon skills. All level 100.

[Abjuration Magic] was a skill that was difficult to train. This was because it mostly dealt with extremely basic spells that weren’t difficult enough to cause it to grow levels, or spells so massively complex that even Scarlet couldn’t handle them outside of a large ritual context. Arcane mana just didn’t behave well enough for any sort of middle ground.

The only way that Scarlet had found to train her [Abjuration Magic] was by using one of its sub branches, [Counter Spells]. Nearly all of her levels in [Abjuration Magic] was because of [Counter Spells].

But this required the assistance of another cast of appropriate level, and even with it, she had only got her [Abjuration Magic] up to level 40 after 2 years of work with it. Much lower than many of her other magics. It grew so much slower than her weapon skills, that it was clear that it would be the problem child.

Moving on from Tier 6 Arcane Knight, Arcane Swordsmaster also required [Abjuration Magic], at level 125 this time, before the requirement was dropped for Valkyrie in exchange for [Holy Magic] and [Divination Magic].

Scarlet’s [Holy Magic] and [Divination Magic] both grew at a startling rate by themselves, for reasons the girl couldn’t understand, but it meant that if she could get herself through the level 125 wall for [Abjuration Magic] she’d be in the clear going forward. 

As such, Scarlet picked two skills that were as helpful as possible and would assist in her future progress in [Abjuration Magic].

The first skill was the previously mentioned [Mystic Body], to assist in both [Abjuration Magic] and [Enhancing Magic], as well as her various training skills.

As for the second, it was a skill that was probably long overdue for a Talent Point.

[Arcane Mana Resistance].

With her being able to make even better gear, she needed to expand the ceiling of her mana regeneration yet again, so she took the point in [Arcane Mana Resistance] in order to speed up the process. It would also help her with [Body Enhancement Magic], [Abjuration Magic] and several resistance based skills.

Not as diverse as her other skills, but Scarlet felt that the boost to her mana regen more than made up for it. ...She also didn’t want to lose consciousness from expending too much mana again. Twice was bad enough. She was a mess for a few days after the nightmares, unable to do anything but clutch herself to her mother’s side. Nothing anyone said or did could reach her, and her health deteriorated as she was barely able to eat or meditate.

Luckily, she eventually managed to recover with help from Branwen.

“Scarlet, I’m going to need a few moment’s to rest and recuperate my mana.” Caesia said, causing Scarlet to look up from her book as the water serpent spell that the girl had been struggling to keep stable under the weight of Scarlet’s [Counter Spell] fizzled out of existence.

Caesia was panting, out of breath after twenty minutes of continuous incanting.

“Alright, you can take a break.” Scarlet said, before switching from using a [Counter Spell] and one [Invocationless Magic] spell to using three [Invocationless Magic] spells and humming a low tone as she closed her book on various Skill-types, deciding to stretch her legs a little.

Most of the skills in the book were pretty useless to her. Things like [Diver’s Lungs] or [Fake Tears]. Others were things that sounded interesting, but would probably be too situational or difficult to train to be useful, like [Water Walking], [Echolocation] and [Monster Taming]. Then there were the skills that she wanted to try to learn just to see if the book wasn’t shitting her about them existing, like [Fart Scent Analysis].

There was no way that was a real skill. …Was it? What does that even give you stat bonuses in? Intelligence? Wisdom? Artistry? Some kind of hidden stat which has no name?

Caesia chuckled weakly as Scarlet made faces, before she sat down and started to do the breathing exercise that Scarlet had taught her. She needed to rejuvenate her mental fatigue as much as she could as the magic items she had been provided restored her mana reserves. 

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After the incident, Caesia offered to be Scarlet’s training partner when it came to [Counter Spells]. It was mutually beneficial to them, as having a [Counter Spell] weighing down on you was as beneficial to training magic as the resistance training clothes had been for training physical skills.

Scarlet had also advised her on how to unlock [High Speed Invocation] and [Dual Evocation], which she had placed her most recent Talent Points into.

Scarlet might have even been a little envious of how quickly Caesia grew levels, thanks to her Hereditary bonuses. But Scarlet had her own bonuses to work with, and she wasn’t ashamed of those her mother had given her. They had proven very useful.

“How are things going?” Scarlet asked Charles and Raphaela as the two trained together on one of Scarlet’s contraptions.

It was a giant carpet that had been enchanted to shift about in order to make it difficult to get your footing. It was good for dexterity and reflex training, as well as making the most of your situational awareness from your [Combat Sense].

“This is really weird. It’s kind of like being on the deck of a ship in a storm, but even more unbalancing.” Raphaela laughed as she attempted to surf the waves, while keeping her spear leveled.

Her father was a ship captain, so she had a few levels in [Sea Legs], which seemed to be helping her a lot.

“I think I am getting the hang of it.” Charles insisted, though his face showed how much he was having to concentrate.

Maintaining one’s balance was hard enough when you swung around a sword that weighed half as much as you do, but with his footing unsettled, it was even more challenging.

Of course, Charles welcomed the challenge.

Raphaela, Charles and Sidney were the team's heavy weapon attackers, with Caesia as their mage, Andy being a scout and Garci an archer. 

A fairly well rounded team, and with their Bond levels rising and them learning more skills, Caesia growing into the position of healer, they were becoming all the more balanced.

They still had only limited crowd control abilities, provided by their Bond Skills, but that was something harder to replace with just training. There were magics that could fill the hole, but they took a long time to set up, making them not the most reliable. Perhaps there were trapper skills or magic items that she should look into.

“Scarlet.” Charles said, getting the girl out of her thoughts about trapping. “I hate to ask this again but… It seems that my training clothes need to be adjusted.” 

“Again?” Scarlet said with a bit of surprise. She had just adjusted them three weeks ago.  “How much have your stats increased?”

“My Strength, Dexterity and Agility have increased by around 300 since the last time.” Charle reported.

“Hm…” Scarlet nodded her head in understanding.

Before, Charles had been focusing all of his efforts into raising his [Two-Handed Sword] as much as possible, so he kept his other skills lower, so that the increase in Strength would not interfere with the leveling of his chosen skill by making it too easy. But with how well resistance training clothes could be scaled to ones own strength, he was expanding the number of different types of skills he had, causing his stats to rapidly increase as well.

Especially given the recent increase in the number of Talent Points he had.

“Alright. Give me one of the spar suits and I’ll make the adjustments.” Scarlet replied with a nod. 

“We’ve all grew so much in the last season.” Andy said cheerfully as he took a break from his own practice at the spinning doors to come over and talk. “Nico is going to be so jealous when he comes back and finds out how much stronger we are than him now.” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Raphaela said as she continued to practice her footwork on the rapidly changing landscape of the enchanted carpet. “Remember that he went to the Royal Military Academy, so that means he got to have access to the Raging Tides Labyrinth. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was still at a higher level than us. Maybe even as high as Scarlet’s.”

““Labyrinth?”” Scarlet and Branwen said together, the pair perking up, their eyes shining with mana as they grew excited.

“Yeah, that’s right. The academy has exclusive access to the labyrinth and students are permitted to hunt there during their time off from class.” Raphaela explained. “My father says that is where he grew most of his levels. While most students enter the academy at level 25 to 30, they usually reach level 60 by the end of their first year.”

Having reached the age of 10, the noble children would receive high Tier Classes, causing them each to gain 1000 to 6000 points in their related stats, as well as getting their Class Skills. All this basically doubled their combat potential, if not more, and made hunting a lot easier. After receiving their Classes, they would be able to hunt monsters up to level 50 with little to no risk, while Charles and his group had to still be cautious about them because of their lower stat line, despite being a higher base level.

Add to that the increased rate of monster growth and their increased density inside of the labyrinths and you had a situation where it was much easier to grow levels.

Charles and his group accepted that until they gained their Classes, a place like that was too dangerous for them, but such logic was lost on Scarlet and Branwen.

“So much EXP in one place!” Scarlet said, her eyes still shining.

“What are we waiting for!? Let’s go right now!” Branwen cheered, flapping her wings.

“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple.” Mehal said, getting their attention and he descended the long flight of stairs down into the basement with a single short hop. “Even if the number of monsters inside of the labyrinth is higher than outside, it still isn’t unlimited. And even with how large our Kingdom is, we still only have three labyrinths. In order to make the most of the resources, only certain people are allowed to enter them. The Royal Military Academy is one such group, as the students there will one day be the defenders of our Kingdom, so they need to be as high of a level as possible. The other Labyrinths are used for active military personal. And as weapon testing sights.”

“So, you're saying we can’t go yet?” Scarlet said, her shoulders drooping.

“Isn’t there some way we can get in without going to the Academy first?” Branwen asked.

“Ah… well…” Mehal said nervously, not wanting to be the one to approach the subject.

“Scarlet, the Royal Military Academy is a boy’s school.” Raphaela said before Mehal could think of a way to break the news.

““HUH!?!”” Scarlet and Branwen shouted together, the bird’s magically produced voice echoing all around them.

“What do you mean it is a boy’s school!? Aren’t there girls in the military too!?” Branwen asked, batting her wings angrily.

“There are, but they are in separate units. The military has always had gender segregation to stop unwanted children from popping up if the young noble ladies decide to join.” Mehal said, coughing into his hand. “There is a military academy for women as well.”

“Does it have access to the Labyrinth too?” Scarlet asked, her voice pleading. 

“Ah…” Mehal didn’t respond.

“While getting a high Class is important for having strong children and protecting the home, noble women usually are encouraged to raise children instead of fighting. So their aren't enough noble ladies to fill an entire school themselves, so they have to go to the same school as the common woman who wish to someday serve. Because of that, they aren’t given as much access to the dungeon, since the average Class level is a lot lower.”

“Separate but equal my tail feathers! This is sexism!” Branwen shouted in indignant rage. “You know what!? Screw your rules, we are going to that academy! And you are going to help us.”

“Excuse me?” Mehal said, surprised.

“You owe us, remember!?” Branwen said.

“Yeah!” Scarlet said, jumping behind Branwen’s unreasonable demand.

She wasn’t as salty about the loss of EXP as Branwen was, who wanted to evolve as soon as possible, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t jump at the chance to get access to a real Labyrinth in the future.

Mehal’s face was falling as the little girl and raven stared up at him menacingly. 

“Didn’t Teacher always say that a true nobleman never forgets his debts?” Charles said in a teasing tone of voice.

“No. I said that a good nobleman makes sure to never owe anyone a favor, so that they can’t be put into situations like this one.” Mehal said with a tired sigh. “Well, I suppose I have 5 years to figure out how to handle it.”

Scarlet and Branwen took this as an admission of defeat and proceeded to celebrate. 

“Kids! Dinner is ready!” Maria called from upstairs, getting everyone’s attention. The children all climbed the staircase in single file, leaving a tired Mehal behind, though he soon followed behind, leaving the training hall abandoned… mostly.

---

 

The children all ate well, with some small conversation around the table. 

It was getting late and they were making arrangements for the night, with the kids asking to be allowed to camp in the underground training hall, when there was a knock at the front door.

“That’s odd. Who could be coming over this late?” Adam said, leaving his wife and baby son’s side in order to check the door. “Hello. Can I… help you?”

Adam was confused, as rather than any of the locals who he would have recognized, there were instead four figures with traveling cloaks on over their normal clothes. ...Or maybe normal wouldn’t be the right way to describe their clothes.

Two of the individuals were young men, dressed in shining silver armor, peeking out from underneath their cloaks, a sigil of a black wolf visible on their breast plates, while a third was a woman in a deep blue robe, with a white raven visible on its breast.

The final stranger, the one standing in front, was a elderly gentleman with gray hair and a well kept beard, having a sort of priestly appearance. This man was wearing bright red robes underneath his cloak. 

“Yes, I would certainly hope that you can.” The elderly man said, his tone friendly as he smiled with his bright blue eyes. “Forgive us for coming so late. I am Cardinal Vittorio, and I was very much hoping to be able to speak with a young Scarlet. Would you mind terribly if we come in?”

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