Chapter 275: Chapter Two Hundred Seventy Six

I'd like to say I was surprised to see Wren. But after even a split  second of thinking, I'm kind of not. Weird coincidences are part and  parcel of being an Ascendant, at least in my experience. Whether it was  because I was guided to exciting things by my Fantasy stat or some kind  of grand recursive effect of all mortals idealizing the nonsense we go  through, I'd probably never know, but if something could go weird, it  would go weird.

Still, in terms of surprises this one  wasn't too bad. Wren was a big scary badass with a giant spear (which he  wasn't carrying) but he seemed like an ok guy for the most part. I'd  shattered his ankle with poison fire and he'd just seemed excited for  the rematch. Which...I guess was now? I grinned at him. "Sure, but only  because I want a chance to dunk on you again before the tournament. I'm a  big believer in the rule of threes."

He barked out a  laugh. "Cocky little shit aren't you? But I don't mind. You and your  partner earned that much. Your level or coordination isn't something I  expected from a couple backwater natives." His eyes flicked to Abel.  "Though it looks like you have a new companion." The laughter faded from  his face as his eyes bored into Abel. "You...are very dangerous. You  remind me of Lament. I'm not sure why, but I trust my instincts."

I  leaned in between them. "This is my mentor, Apollyon. But no more  talking about that. You don't want me to think you're fishing for  information do you?" He snorted at that, dragging his eyes away, and I  gestured to the table. "Now, I believe a rematch was mentioned? Do you  want to break or should I?" I didn't fancy trying to find a new place to  sleep if they got into a dust up and destroyed half of this room. I had  seen Abel fight, and if I didn't know he was human I'd have suspected  someone summoned him from the elemental plane of property damage.

Wren  grinned wryly. "Going right for the throat eh? Fine. You can break.  Winner should get first shot." He shot me a wink. "Just be sure to keep  that in mind for our next fight after I beat your ass at pool." He  gestured down to the table where I quickly racked the balls and then set  up to take my shot. Pausing I turned to look at Abel, but he just waved  me on, and I took a shot.

The break was clean. I was  working with mortal stats so no crazy perfect shot that sunk all the  balls, but I managed to get at least one in. "Solids." I proclaimed  smugly, then set up for a second shot. I felt like showing off, so I hit  a double bank off the far corner and tapped in another solid, a green  this time. My third shot, sadly, ended the streak, but at least I didn't  scratch.

Abel strolled up to stand next to me as Wren  lined up his own shot. I hadn't left him with much. "That was better  than I expected. Most Ascendants are useless if you strip away their  stats. You play this when you were mortal?"

"Yeah,  Clockwork's dad used to take us when I was younger. I'm not as good as  he is, but I do ok. It's a fun game." My reminiscing was cut short by a  perfect triple bank from Wren as he smoothly deposited a solid ball in  one of the pockets. He lined up and pulled off three more shots in quick  succession and I winced.

Wren was a master martial  artist. He spent all his time working with a spear. I wouldn't say that a  spear and a pool cue are the same thing, but control of of point of  impact and things like that were ingrained in him even without his  stats. He couldn't mobilize his Skills without stats to use, not past  the Minor level anyway, but he still had the knowledge and control that  gave him those Skills in the first place.

I expected him  to completely clean us up, but luckily he was distracted for a second by  an argument off to one side and scratched. I exhaled with relief. It  was odd not having the same level of Focus as usual, even for me. My  brain didn't feel sluggish or anything, but my thoughts were definitely  more scattered. Focus gave raw processing power but it also helped  concentration, and clearly Wren wasn't any more used to losing that than  I was.

Without any hesitation I passed the cue to Abel. I  might not be a master of bodily control with a genius grasp on physical  movement, but he was. He grinned at me smugly. "Don't feel too bad. You  are pretty good. I hadn't really counted on the crossover either. Damn  weapons masters. Let me give it a shot." He winked and walked over to  the table. He started pacing around it, looking at angles and setting up  shots he never took.

After a minute or two Wren started  looking annoyed, but didn't say anything specifically. Abel finally  stopped, picking a specific spot and lining it up, then snapped off a  single stroke. I watched in shock as cur ball rocketed across the table,  knocking off nearly every single ball. The solids left headed right for  the pockets, and the few that couldn't be directly hit were banked or  knocked on course by the stripes, which were all knocked away by the  solids themselves if they were too close to the hole.

Abel  waited for a minute for the balls to all fall in and the eight ball  came to a slow stop right on the rim of the pocket, with the cue ball  about a foot away and lined up clearly. My teacher grinned over at Wren  and said. "Eight ball, corner pocket." The leisurely tapped it in  without much effort. He turned to me and his grin widened. "Fun fact.  Learning to manipulate space makes you REALLY good at geometry and  angles. Even without stats."

I hadn't considered that. I'd  been paying attention to Abel's martial skills, but the stuff he did  with his spatial lubrication must require an insane amount of spatial  awareness. Some of that must be Focus, but the skills would be there  anyway. I grinned at Wren. "Well, looks like we won. We gonna do a  rematch? Or do you want to get a drink or something?"

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Despite  not being a big drinker, I didn't mind a bit of alcohol in a social  setting. I'd ended up drinking some beer recently, and assuming I didn't  get something high ranking and expensive my Vitality made it impossible  to get drunk. I didn't LOVE the taste, but if I didn't need to worry  about getting tipsy because I couldn't hold my booze and acting like an  idiot there was no reason not to be polite.

Plus I knew  from Callie's fishbowl thing that there were drinks that didn't taste as  bad. Luckily for me, lower ranked drinks would be cheaper anyway, so  this was a win win as far as I was concerned. Wren looked annoyed, but  he blew out a breath. "Fine. But nothing crazy. I can see your buddy  looking all shifty, and I am NOT paying for Moontear Brandy. Even I  don't have the money to throw around to buy a round of that stuff. And  even if I did I wouldn't do it for a lost game of pool with no stakes."

I  snickered at Abel's curse of annoyance, and then held up a hand. "Why  don't we play a few more friendly games. No need to put reputation on  the line this time, no rematch. But maybe me and your buddy there can do  some shooting." I gestured at the smaller man with shaggy blue hair and  a goatee the same color. I held out a hand. "Sorry, got caught up with  Wren there, didn't catch your name."

He grabbed my hand  and shook. "Vector. And don't sweat it. None of us expect to be first  priority when either of the bosses are in the room. Wren is huge and  Lament is...Lament." I cocked my head in confusion and Vector just gave a  rueful chuckle. "You'll see when you meet her. It's hard to describe."  He sizes up Abel. "For Wren to mention a similar vibe from you is  interesting. I don't feel it myself."

Wren shook his head.  "He's more restrained, but there's a sort of...aura of violence that  people develop when they're competent enough in combat. It's not really  an Ascendant thing. Mortals can have it too. It's sort of a surety of  movement and purpose. Lament's is agressive, like she's ten seconds from  butchering you. His is more...smug. It kind of makes me want to punch  him in the face."

Despite the hostile comment, his tone is  more introspective than anything, as if he's trying to talk out a  puzzle. I had to suppress a snicker as Abel held up both hands in a  'what the hell?' gesture. "Anyway." I said decisively, cutting off a  potential fight that Wren would definitely lose. "I'd love to place  against Vector a bit. I refuse to believe both of you have managed to  translate your spear mastery into perfect pool cue use."

We  played another four games. Vector and I both shot, and I won two while  he won two, but it became obvious that once I shook the rust off regular  rules wouldn't work, since you could keep taking shots when you sunk  one and we were both hitting ever shot. We started swapping back and  forth, which dragged the games out, but it kind of stopped being fun  because of how good we were.

Eventually  we decided to abandon the pool table, heading to the bar for a drink,  and we ran into Callie and Mel up there when we arrived. Callie was  happily enjoying something brightly colored in an oddly shaped glass. I  suspected more Ascendants drank for taste than inebriation given how  high their Vitality was. Clearly some of them had interest in getting  drunk given the high ranked liquor I'd seen and heard of, but if you  were drinking something that physically couldn't get you buzzed, there  didn't see a reason not to make sure it was tasty.

When  they saw us Callie started calling me, waving wildly to get my  attention. She stopped when she realized what she was doing and where  and leaned back against the bar, nonchalantly beckoning us like she  hadn't done anything a second ago. When we got close though she grinned.  "Oh wow, what a coincidence. Wren, good to see you. I should have  guessed you might be staying her when they mentioned the outsider  factions."

Wren  chuckled. "Yeah, not many viable accommodations down here. Surprised to  see you around though. Locals and all. Anyway, luckily you have a drink  already, I owe your partner some libations after losing to him and his  buddy at pool." He rapped on the wood surface of the bar. "Hey, barkeep.  Pair of drinks for my friends. Put whatever they get on my tab, but no  top shelf stuff."

The  taciturn woman behind the bar with shaved head and a nose ring nodded  solemnly, raising an eyebrow over one copper colored eye at the two of  us. I ordered a milkshake, which got a small huff of laughter, and Abel  ordered a brandy, the non wallet destroying kind. She brought us our  drinks and we settled in to enjoy.

We  ended up staying up to talk to Wren and Vector for quite a while,  learning more about the Spear Legion. Not information gathering or  anything, but just the normal getting to know you stuff you talk to new  friends about. What it was like there, what they did for fun, etc. They  were both pretty chill guys, and I felt pretty relaxed as we headed to  bed after a night just hanging out. Of course, that was just for the  night. Tomorrow we would need to figure out our next move, but so far, I  was enjoying my time down here in Doomtown.

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