Chương 136: Chapter 134- Recovery

Drip… drip… drip Droplets of water shimmered in the morning light as they slowly dripped free from Elias's hair. He dunked the ladle into the water barrel of the practice yard one last time before dumping it on his head, washing away the sweat from his morning run. A smile crossed his face as the pleasant coolness of the water met the crisp morning air, the heat of the mid summer sun not quite yet warming the day.

He thumped the top of the barrel back in place with the heel of his right palm, he was still remembering not to try his left first. A shiver ran down his spine as a few droplets snuck beneath the loose white linen shirt he wore, and he whipped his head back and forth to shake most of the water loose before wringing what he could from the brown mop and tying it back with a loose slip of leather from one pocket. Brother! I just cleaned my scales!

Eli looked down at the young wyvern, pulling a rag out from a pocket as he knelt to dry her off from the spray of his overly enthusiastic impromptu barrel bath, mirth filling his voice, " Sorry Tia, I got you…" Not with your stinky-sweat rag!! He laughed at the indignant chittering as she took off across the courtyard, fleeing in search of her favorite refuge from the menacing ministrations of her bonded companion as she sought out the one person she knew would keep him in line. Sister, Sister!

Brother is being mean again, Angie just polished my scales and he … Still breathing heavily from his morning run, Eli turned to watch as she interrupted Astra and her brother as they worked on their morning sword drills in the practice yard tucked into the corner of the Emerald Grove garrison.

It had been decided that both the men and women of the garrison, as well as those of Astra's patrol, could use sometime off after recent events, and Darian's troops were manning the watch rotations temporarily as the troops cycled through a full week of off duty before leaving to begin the long trek to Emberholdt. Hopefully the road to Emberholdt would be a little less eventful.

Eli smiled as he watched the little lizard badger the siblings, relishing in the cool air of the simple loose linen shirt and trousers rolled to the knee that was the closest to exercise attire he could find in this world. He had drawn more than a few stares on the first day when he went out in mid thigh linen shorts, and was confused until Astra pulled him aside. Fixed! Thanks for catching it. My current beta reader is a golden retriever, so proofreading isn't exactly her strongest skill.

Apparently the stares were more because running was not really the kind of thing that was normally done, outside of endurance drills of course, and part of why Mira was considered something of a harsh taskmaster given her insistence on drilling with it religiously." If you wished to improve your endurance after all, why would you not wear your armor?"

"... because it's a recovery run?"

"... what?" Her serious expression as he explained the basics of aerobic training as he knew it was endearing, although the glee that entered her expression towards the end had him feeling just the slightest bit sorry for the men and women of the patrol. Nothing had happened just yet, but he had seen that look before, the joy of a Sergeant discovering a whole new form of 'training' they had never heard of before. Even so, she usually just has their best interest at heart.

I couldn't tell you the last time I met a commander who cared half as much as she does for her men. Elias walked over to plop down in a patch of grass under a nearby tree with a soft grunt, taking deep breaths to slow his breathing and heart rate as Astra paused in her synchronized motions with Darian, the pair wearing the leather pants and embroidered tunic that were considered the casual attire of the garrison while still wielding their standard weapons, a pair of matching greatswords.

Given the lingering looks, and the eyes he could occasionally feel following him around the yard, Eli assumed she would have preferred to join him on his runs, but she had been genuinely excited to practice with her brother. Apparently he was well on his way to mastery in a martial style that ran in her family, far ahead of her, and it was a rare opportunity for her to work on her swordplay.

Elias could hardly imagine her growing even more deadly with her blade, but the menacing air he had seen from Darian on occasion, as well as the swift, efficient killing strokes that moved nearly faster than the eye could see when he demonstrated one of the finer points of a strike pattern were definitely impressive. His smile grew amused as he watched Tia chirp and chitter away at Astra. Eli knew that she could not understand a word Tia was saying, although you would never know it from watching the pair.

Through a combination of charades, body language, and familiarity with her antics Eli watched as Astra pieced together the series of events before laughing and pulling out a rag to dry her off. Warmth settled in his chest as Astra knelt to give the little beast a brief hug before whispering in her ear and sending Tia scampering out on the yard on some mission and, as the emotion trickled down the tether, she turned to flash him a brief grin before returning to her training.

Elias took a few minutes to breathe deep and cleanse his mind, his thoughts lingering for a moment on just how swiftly the bizarre had become comforting. He flicked open his status pane to check his progress over the past few weeks.

Name: Elias Mercer Age: 23 Race: Voidborn Human - Tier II Class: [Veilcutter Adept] Lv 14 -> 16 ============ Health: 200/200 -> 340/340 Stamina: 320/320 -> 327/400 Mana: 950/950 -> 1050/1130 ============ Vitality: 20 -> 34 Strength: 88 -> 116 Endurance: 32 -> 40 Dexterity: 60 -> 80 Intelligence: 85 -> 113 Wisdom: 28 Willpower: 26 -> 34 Charisma: 10 This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Free points: 48 -> 72 -> 58 ============ Class 1: [Veilcutter Adept] Class 2: Locked Class 3: Locked ============ Class Skills: [Veilcutter Adept] Veilstep: Lv 1 -> 3 Veilrend: Lv 1 -> 4 Displacement: Lv 4 -> Lv 9 Facet: Lv 1 Free Skill Slots: 6 / 10 ============ General Skills Eagle's Eye: Lv 10 Studious Pupil: Lv 10 -> Lv 11 Stalwart: Lv 14 -> Lv 16 Companion Bond- Tiamat Mercer: Lv 14 -> Lv 16 Ranger's Resiliency: Lv 14 -> Lv 16 Soldier's Foundation: Lv 14 -> Lv 15 Mana Sense: Lv 10 -> Lv 13 Meditation: Lv 10 -> Lv 11 Identify: Lv 10 -> Lv 11 Mana Manipulation: Lv 12 -> Lv 15 Free Skill Slots: 0 / 10 Just as he had after the first battle in the passageway at Whittenburg, Eli found himself surprised by how slowly his class now advanced.

It was one thing to be told the pace for an adult class was slower and another to experience it, but once again it wasn't super surprising. Sure, he cut down quite a few of the monsters, but he was hardly alone. Even if the whole force killed a couple hundred monsters, spread amongst them that was only a few apiece, even if his contribution was outsized in comparison.

Hell, being up front in center in the passageway and being one of the few who made it all the way to the ritual chamber was probably the only reason I got the two I did. Shit even Astra only got two levels, and she was the star of the show. She was a little higher level than him so you would think it would slow her down a bit, but as Cooper had explained, class growth was about more than just killing, but rather it was about how well you embodied your class.

Memories drifted through his mind of Astra leading her men through the thick of battle, although after a moment he realized he was focusing a little less on her leadership than her other qualities and shook himself out of his thoughts and back into the present.

When Eli's gaze passed over his attributes he winced a bit at some of the lower scores, his class and race bonuses gave him plenty of power, but after all the battles of the past few weeks he couldn't help but dwell on all the near misses, all the times he nearly died or when his injuries nearly cost someone else their life too. He idly scratched the scarred stump at the end of his right arm, sure a little more mana may have helped in the moment, but better choices and a deeper Health pool would have helped more.

His eyes were drawn across the courtyard involuntarily as he watched the siblings practice, Darian reaching over to adjust the angle of the tip of her blade with one hand while twisting one hip into position with the other. Astra's words outside the bunker on the hill after his reckless one man assault drifting through his mind. I made a promise. One I can't keep if I'm dead.

Eli stuck to Mira's lessons and only added a few points a day to his Vitality and, while he worked on his strength and dexterity daily, he just couldn't bring himself to train the attribute appropriately, it wasn't exactly a one man job. I know 'body hardening' is the official name, but 'tenderizing' is probably a little more accurate. Astra would help if I asked even if she would probably hate it, since Mira isn't around, maybe I should ask Coop about it…

Elias snorted as the image of a certain diminutive scout came to mind, nevermind, he would probably just send Sasha after me with a filet knife and a rubber mallet. He took a deep breath as he looked over the rest of the scores, relishing in the smooth movement as he made a tight fist, feeling the steady pulse of his heartbeat against his palm. It was hard to quantify, but he felt better than he probably had at any point in either life, trauma notwithstanding.

Gotta say though, I can definitely see getting addicted to the rush of improving your body to such a degree. I know they say it can help with aging, I wonder if there are any old folks who boost their Vitality just to feel young again. Most of the general skill increases were pretty straight forward, although how busy things had gotten it had taken a lot of detective work to piece together what happened and where.

Eli had spent at least an hour or two flicking through the notifications of the various battles after they had hit the road out of the estate. The lack of levels to [Eagle's Eye], [Meditation], and [Identify] had not been surprising, he had hardly used them, and neither had the levels to [Stalwart], [Ranger's Resiliency], and [Soldier's Foundation], they'd gotten the work out of a lifetime. [Mana Sense] and [Mana Manipulation] had surprised him though.

Eli had only later realized just how much he used [Mana Manipulation] in combat, with his accuracy on [Displacement] still being so low that the lances of raw mana were still his only reliable ranged attack, although Astra had promised to show him a few spellforms to round out his repertoire.

They would be slower and clumsier than a system granted skill but being able to use different elemental aspects, or literally anything other than his very expensive spatially aspected skills, would go a long way to helping him build out his kit. A bittersweet smile crossed his face as he considered the source of his single level in [Studious Pupil].

He had first thought it had come from all their trial and error as they tried to stop the ritual, especially since it had been somewhat of a crash course on ritual components, although without much in the way of reference frames he had retained about as much as a toddler watching their father completely rebuild an engine. No, when he had examined the memories more thoroughly after the fact he remembered hearing a Ding just once.

A single solitary chime as he and Astra had peered awestruck over the crest of a boulder, clutching tightly to the rock as they were buffeted by the waves of power that had rippled outwards as they watched Mira wrestle with the ritual. Must have made an impression The less that was said about [Companion Bond] the better, he loved the little monster to pieces, but he wasn't entirely sure he was happy about what it said about himself that they were so in sync.

Bonds are supposed to be bi-directional afterall and while he wasn't suddenly feeling the urge to perform genocide on the local avian population, he had found himself breaking out in a cold sweat as he subconsciously reached for a pitcher of inkfruit juice yesterday morning at breakfast. Although the cold sweat was less about the surprisingly delicious juice and more about just where else she may be rubbing off on him. Eli closed his eyes, letting his sight fade as the sounds and smells of the day washed over him.

The slightly salty scent of clean sweat, the fresh faintly herbaceous scent of the grass, and the mix of earthy loam and soft clay notes of the packed dirt of the practice yard. The rustle of the leaves from the tree above, the soft whistle of blades cutting the air, and the thump of softly stamping feet from the pair across the practice ring. A soft breeze that was swirling around the yard carried a familiar scent from somewhere across the yard and Eli found himself smiling before he even realized why.

As his breathing settled and the rhythm of his heartbeat slowed, the sounds around him gradually separated into distinct layers. The garrison was never truly quiet, but beneath the steady hum of voices and the ringing of steel he caught the cadence of rapidly approaching footsteps. He was unworried as the pair of the guards would stop anyone who shouldn't be there, but as they continued on through the cordon without stopping, Eli turned to watch as a runner rounded the corner breathing heavily.

The young woman only took a moment to suck down a few breaths before coming to halt and saluting a dozen feet from the siblings and shouting in between breaths, " My Lady… it's Lady Blackhall… She's awake!" Eli smiled at the intense spike of joy that shot through the bond, followed by a sharp click as Astra slammed her blade home in its sheath and tore off around the corner without a word. Darian grinned over at Eli as he rose, " Shall we join her?"

Elias glanced once more at the status pane before closing it as he smiled back at Darian." Of course, I'd hate to keep her waiting."