Chapter 270: Chapter Two Hundred Seventy One

When we got back to the waiting room, Wren was gone, but Abel, Mel,  and Sloane were there waiting. Sloane was particularly impressed,  cheering loudly when she was us. "That was FANTASTIC! That guy was a monster, his Might must be insane. I was afraid he'd kill one of you by  mistake, but you kept him off balance the whole time. He never even had a  chance!"

Abel rolled his eyes, holding up a hand.  "Alright, let's not take this too far. It was a decent fight, but he  wasn't going all out. He never even used his ability. Granted, you kept  plenty of your tricks in reserve, which I approve of, but you had plenty  of room for improvement. Either Mel or I could have taken him one on  one pretty easily. It's fine to recognize your strengths, but don't let  it go to your heads. These next two weeks are for training, and if you  lose motivation you'll stall out."

"He's not wrong." Said  Mel in a conciliatory tone. "But still, I do think you two did a damn  good job for your first major fight against an outsider. With the caveat  that you can still learn plenty, it's not a problem to be proud of your  battle. In that vein though, why don't you point out some of the things  you did wrong. It'll help to contextualize where you can improve in the  future." She gestured over to the nearby seats. "We can wait over here.  Sloane signed up for the singles matches, but she needs to wait until  her name is called."

Callie, as usual, picked up the  inconsistency first. "Wait, where are Beric and Croll and the other  Beast Lord Initiates?" She asked. "Also what are you all doing down  here? Weren't you being escorted to like an observation deck or  something?" Thinking about it that way I was pretty curious too.

"We  were." Answered Abel. "It was more of a VIP box. But the part time  fleabag decided she wanted to fight, and Mel and I know this place  pretty well. The others are up in the box watching the fights, but we  figured coming with her would be a good chance to give you some  feedback." He pointed to the back corner of the room where a scan box  was projecting an image of a currently starting match onto the wall. "We  can watch her match over there. Now, like Mel said, what did you do  wrong? Solomon, you go first."

I wasnt sure if he decided  that because Callie was better able to note details or because I was  more in tune with combat, but it didn't really matter. I cocked my head  slightly in thought before I responded. "Off the top of my head, using  my triple strike on his ankle might have been sloppy. I was trying not  to use any of my powerful tricks before the tournament. It might have  been noticed and given away some more of my abilities."

To  my surprise, Abel shook his head at that. "Nah. It was a physical  attack, hard to tell when those are more than they seem. And you showed  enough variety with DS Mastery to make it unlikely for anyone to catch  the slip. It was a measured risk that you put thought into. I'd say it  worked out fine, given the overturn in the combat dynamic when it  happened. Try again."

That had been the most obvious slip,  and I had to dig a bit deeper to find something else. "The mist?" He  raised an eyebrow over his mask, gesturing for me to continue. "I used  it without warning Callie it was going to happen. She adapted on the  fly, but it was a stupid slip to make, cutting off her line of sight to  me without letting her know." It was sometimes hard to remember that  while we were incredibly in sync, we couldn't read each others minds.  Trust could become a liability if it wasn't tempered with knowledge.

Abel  smiled. "Good. The hardest part of perfecting team dynamic is to find  your partner's limits. You two did well taking advantage of the mistake,  but it still happened. You count on your partner in all things when in  battle, which means you need to be able to estimate how much information  they can glean. Without knowing what they know, you can't predict what  they'll do, and someone you can't predict isn't an asset in a battle,  they're a liability."

"I guess." Callie said thoughtfully.  "I mean, I feel like that was a good move though. Using that combo to  take care of the sand. He communicated some of it with handsigns. I  wasn't expecting the steam, but it didn't seem to hurt us. Are you  saying we can't improvise? Because that doesn't sound like you." I  smiled a bit at how defensive she sounded of me. It was sweet how much  she cared.

Abel shrugged. "Not at all. I'm saying you need  to game out these combinations and responses beforehand and have  contingencies for them. It's not a matter of never reacting, it's a  matter or making sure your partner has a frame of reference for every  action you take. The whole, magma mist combo was a smart way to solidify  the ground, but it was NEW. Trying new moves outside your partner's  grasp on your abilities creates gaps."

"So...more  training?" I asked wryly. His answering grin was response enough, and I  rolled my eyes. "Fair enough. I can't imagine how many years you two  trained together when you were younger to have as good a grasp on your  combat style as you do. How did you even maintain that level of  cooperation for such a long time? Even after Apollyon was gone for a  while you just fell right back into it."

Mel just waved  that off. "Once you hit a certain point your combat style tends to  solidify. I was able to predict how he fights because he hasn't changed  it much. He still uses the same martial art, the same ability, he just  uses them more smoothly. It's a benefit of developing your cooperation  now. Less change at this point in your journey, at least in terms of  combat. Not that no one ever pivots or changes their style, but most  people tend to stay on brand. Consistency helps build a bigger  impression."

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That made sense with  how most people gained stats. Less of a priority for me honestly, but I  could see how even without that factor, specializing in a certain kind  of combat and sharpening that skill set would be a big help. Hell, I'd  been doing exactly that lately. Deciding to do the rest of the 'what did  you do wron' exercise later and in private, I turned to Sloane. "So,  you decided to fight next? I haven't really seen too much of your  serious combat abilities. Some during the siege but I'm curious to see  what you can do."

I  knew she could merge with her animals somehow, she got bird wings  and...,fox ears? I guessed foxes had good ears since they were so big.  It would be interesting to see more of what she could do with them.  She'd mostly been fighting random minions in the siege, so she hadn't  had a chance to shine.

She  certainly looked excited enough. Sloane was one of the many WCP  residents that didn't bother with a mask. Some of the kids of the  E-rankers, like Sage, just figured there was no reason for a second  identity given who their parents were. I wasn't sure if Sloane was  Melinda's daughter or just her apprentice, but she seemed to have gone  with the same general idea. It made it incredibly easy to see the energy  and anticipation on her face as she spoke. "Hell yes! I saw your fight  and it got me pretty pumped. I hope I get someone that strong!"

Mel  chuckled. "You won't. None of the regulars are that powerful, but you  might get someone with a drastically opposed power to yours. Those are  always fun. I remember one time I got matched against an opponent who  absorbed fire and converted it to physical strength. That fight was  annoying."

Callie  nodded fervently. "I'm lucky my constructs are dense enough that normal  light doesn't affect them much. I've run into a few counter powers and  they are absolutely awful to deal with. Unless you work with a team, the  easiest way to deal with them is to have some kind of combat Skill."  She cocked her head. "Although, actually, I don't think I've ever asked  if you have a martial art Skill. Being the direct disciple of an  E-ranker I figure you probably do though, right?"

"No  spoilers." Sloane snickered. "You'll have to wait and see like everyone  else. Don't forget that the Beast Lord Garden is entering the  tournament too. Don't want to give away any tricks to the competition  too soon. If you can figure some things out from watching me fight  that's fine, but I'm not giving any hints." She gave a mysterious smirk,  making it clear she'd be holding back just as much as we had.

We  talked for a bit longer before a voice called for Sloane and she headed  out to get ready for her fight. I raised an eyebrow at that and turned  to Mel. "Wait, why did she get called but we didn't? We were able to  just head out when we were ready, is that not how it usually goes?"

"Nah."  Mel said casually. "You were benefiting from Wren's status. He's been  tearing into their best for days, and while he isn't at the same level  as Lament, he's got quite a rep at this point. If there wasn't a  qualitative difference in renown at higher levels I don't doubt factions  like the Spear Legion would just send all their kids to backwaters to  crush everyone else. Hell, some of them probably do that anyway, though  thankfully it's not common."

That  made sense. "So he was just allowed to go up whenever he wanted and  took us along? I'll have to thank him when we see him again. So can we  place bets down here? Also how much did we win off the last bet? I'm  pretty confident in Sloane and if we got a bunch of extra cash anyway  might as well keep it going." I wasn't sure how much Mel had put up for  us, but our odds had probably been decent if Wren was so well known  here.

My  enthusiasm got a chuckle from Mel. "I figured you'd say that. I put some  of your winnings on Sloane, though the odds were much less favorable  for her. I figured if you decided not to bet I could just take it out of  my personal account instead to cover the difference. You won about a  hundred G-rank chits. I put twenty down from your Pavilion account and  you got five to one odds. Pretty decent, though I doubt it'll be  anywhere near as much if you do it again. I put twenty five on her for  you, but it's only two to one odds."

"If?"  I asked in confusion. "I figured we'd be spending most of our trip down  here. Seems like a great place to train. We need to polish our combat  skills don't we?" I'd been looking forward to possibly becoming a  champion pit fighter. It seemed like such a cool accomplishment.

Abel  answered with a laugh. "Kid, most people aren't responsible enough to  come to a fighting pit in Doomtown. We'll get in just as many fights out  in the wild, and under plenty more circumstances, besides, it'll be a  good idea to establish your brand a bit around hear. Aside from learning  about your opponents you'll have plenty of opportunities to expand your  reputation." Before I could respond he held up a hand and pointed over  to the screen. "We can talk about it later. First lesson of the arena  kid, always watch matches you bet on." And with that bit of wisdom, we  turned to see Sloane's fight.

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