Chương 44: Good One

Alexandra stood atop a low rolling hill as she watched the plains before her. Louis was beside her, reading Verdant Beast Of The Balerian Plains.

"Mimethyses tend to grow in a strip of land close to the coast," he said.

"Though not right on the cliff edges." She nodded. Her eyes were scanning the plains for the orange flowers characteristic of the beast.

"I don't see one."

"Let's walk." For today's quest, she'd graduated from hunting goblin, and was now tasked with her first daily-sanctioned verdant beast kill. A Mimethys, something she'd already killed, albeit with difficulty. Still, this type of plant monster only hovered between unranked and the Iron rank, and she had gotten a lot stronger since then.

Quest Journal Daily Reset: 06: 00 | Streak: 12 Days | 1% All Stats Next Milestone: 25 Days Daily Quests Slay one Mimethys (0/1) A Face Among Many 1 -> 2 The level to her concealment skill had come after yesterday's chase. She sighed, closed her journal, and walked with Louis. Her steps were heavier than usual, weighed down by the brand new axe she now carried at her waist, on the opposite side of the sickle she'd insisted on taking.

"You know, you could have told me about your secret passage in the walls before," she grumbled.

"It would have saved me a lot of trouble the night before." Louis looked back and smiled at her.

"Sorry. I thought it was obvious. I literally live beneath the city walls. What more do you need?" She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Well, if you don't show me where the trapdoor is, how am I supposed to find it from the outside?"

"Sorry." She tapped his back, and walked beside him. The sun was still low when they spotted the Mimethys. Rather, when Louis spotted it. His perception was a lot better than Alexandra's, though he refused to tell her his exact stats.

"Go for it," Louis said, stopping far enough from the beast that he wouldn't interfere.

"Remember what we talked about." She nodded, and unstrapped her axe from her belt. It was heavy. A lot heavier than the sickle. But she was stronger than ever, and capable of swinging it with one arm if she so desired. Alexandra had trained a little before taking her new weapon into a real fight. The Mimethys, like most verdant beasts, kept still. It was waiting for her to approach its flowers, drawn in by the sweet smell. But its nectar was far from irresistible, especially to someone who knew about it.

It was only when she stood above the orange flowers that the vines made their moves.

"Dodge. Don't fight back," Louis shouted from afar. Alexandra knew what she needed to do. They'd discussed her approach to training at length since yesterday. She watched the vines close in on her and shifted on her feet. Her attributes were incomparable to her first fight against a Mimethys so she was able to follow their trajectory with ease. She stepped aside, dodging a vine, then another.

"Too much movement. You can do better." She tracked the vines swirling around her and moved. One small step to the right to prevent her left foot from being grappled, one foot raised to dodge a swipe, then she ducked under another. It was going well, until she stepped on a rock and her ankle bent. She stumbled, a vine caught her leg.

"It's fine. Start with the axe now." Alexandra swung the axe at the vine coiled around her leg. She missed. The blade bit into the dirt and the handle wrenched her wrist sideways.

"Again." She pulled the axe free and swung harder. This time the blade caught the vine and tore through half of it. The vine recoiled. She chopped again and severed it clean. Two more came. She raised her foot and stamped one flat against the ground, then brought the axe down on it. The second coiled around her forearm before she could react. She hacked at it with short strokes, no room for a proper swing. The edge scraped along the vine twice before cutting in. It split and fell. Her shoulder was already burning.

"You're stopping," Louis said.

"Keep your feet moving." She watched the next vine come. She stepped left, let it pass, and swung in the same motion. Clean cut. Another came from above. She ducked, axe already rising on the way up. It separated in two. Alexandra moved through the rest of them, feet and blade working together. Step, cut. Duck, cut. When the last vine dropped, the ground split open beneath the orange flowers. The thick body of the Mimethys pushed up through the soil. You might be reading a pirated copy.

Look for the official release to support the author.

"Step back," Louis said sharply. She listened, and came to a stop next to him. They watched the Mimethys thrash around, wanting to fight them.

"You don't think that's enough?" He shook his head.

"I wouldn't know. Depends on how broken your class art is. That said, for a regular class, you'd need a lot more proficiency to unlock a skill quest. Your axe work is rough, relying more on the sharpness of your blade than skill. As for your movements, if your stats were any lower, it wouldn't cut it. Hell, you got caught by an Iron beast." She winced.

"There were a lot of vines."

"Do you think the Yshant will be easier?" She didn't answer. They left the Mimethys alive, and went looking for another one. When looking for them, Mimethys turned out to be relatively common. The sun hadn't moved more than a hand's width before they located their next target. Alexandra was still fresh, so she immediately got back to training. She dodged. She cut. She dodged and cut. But Louis still wasn't impressed.

"Movement in a fight isn't just about not getting hit. You must also position yourself for your next strike." That was the real struggle. Alexandra tried, but often leaned too much on the dodging side, missing openings. At other times, she overcorrected, and took hits she shouldn't have. The third Mimethys was more of the same. Then the fourth. Alexandra was finding her footing. On the fifth, the sun had reached its midway point, and she decided to finish her quest, and cut down the main body of the beast.

Slay one Mimethys (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 STR, Skill Quest Unlocked: Combat Sense. Daily Quest Streak: 12 -> 13 She frowned as she read her journal.

"No skill quest?" Louis asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Not the ones we expected." She turned to the skill description page.

"Combat Sense." Louis raised his eyebrows.

"Oh. That's actually a very good one." Combat Sense: Read the intent of your opponents. Each level increases accuracy and speed. She nodded.

"I can see that. I'll take this over Axe Mastery or a movement skill."

"Sure. But you'll still need to work toward those two."

"Of course." She smiled.

"But Combat Sense sounds like something that will serve me in all the fights I get into." She flipped the page to her list of skill quests, and grimaced. Combat Sense: Defeat an opponent of your rank or higher while blindfolded (0/1).

"This sucks."

"Do you think you can take a Mimethys?" Louis asked. She bit the inside of her mouth.

"Maybe one of those we left behind with their vines severed." He shook his head.

"It won't work. The system isn't so easily cheated. Fighting me while I let you win also won't work."

"What if I defeat you at dice or something?"

"No loophole." She sighed.

"Lame. Get your book out." Louis pulled out Verdant Beast Of The Balerian Plains and started skimming through it.

"Not that many Iron rank beasts among those. Maybe if we find a Silvershard that has yet to rank up to bronze… No, that's too dangerous." The issue, they figured, was that while verdant beasts weren't all as mobile as a Mimethys, it didn't mean that they would let her hack away at them without retaliating.

"You could direct me with your voice." He nodded.

"Will that be enough, though?" She shook her head. They kept turning the pages until they reached the Silver section of the book. At that point, it just wasn't realistic anymore. Alexandra sat on the ground. She played with a dry grass shoot, weaving it around her fingers. It snapped.

"Wait!" She jumped to her feet.

"I have a loophole."

"I told you—" She put her index finger on his mouth.

"Listen. Two words. Dark Bolt." He grabbed and hand and shoved her finger away.

"Really? You've yet to get rid of your sickness of mana. Now you want another." She shrugged.

"But it will work." Louis opened his mouth, then closed it.

"See. I'm right." She smiled.

"You know, sickness of mana isn't all that bad in the grand scheme of things. There are way worse curses out there." Louis put a hand on her shoulder.

"Like the curse of blindness, for example. If you get the sickness version, you won't be able to see. Good luck finding a cure in that state." Alexandra shook his hand away.

"That's true. But I just realized I should be able to control how much power I pour into Dark Bolt. I just need to hit an Iron once. It'll take a lot less than the Bronze Gallowbloom." Louis took a deep breath, and locked gaze with her.

"Are you sure?" She shrugged.

"Not really. But what I'm sure of is that I can't beat anything blindfolded without Dark Bolt. And I really want that new skill." He sighed, and put his hands over his face.

"Well, the curse isn't going to kill you." He paused. Raised his head.

"And you'll be the one dealing with the consequences. Do your worst."

"Great." Her lips curved upward.

"Let's find one last Mimethys." With the experience of the morning behind them, locating their final target was simple. A short walk to the next undulation in the plains, a scan of the surroundings. Orange flowers. Sweet aroma. She looked at Louis. He nodded.

"Looks Iron to me." Alexandra put her hood on backward to serve as a blindfold, and walked slowly toward the flower patch. Louis positioned himself behind her.

"Slightly more left. No, too much. Careful of the rock. Stop."

"Is it in front of me?"

"Yes, the closest flower is three paces ahead." She raised her hand with her index finger trying to aim at the Mimethys.

"A bit lower," Louis said. She adjusted.

"Just a tad more. Good."

"Tell me if it moves."

"Okay. Just remember that you can still back out of it." She shook her head. Learning to control Dark Bolt's power was just as important as acquiring Combat Sense. She took a deep breath, and focused on her skills. Life Curse. The compensation mechanism took place as she was trying to make sense of it. She couldn't. It was like something had shifted inside her, but she wasn't quite able to put her finger on it. She turned her attention to her outstretched index finger.

Her intention was to fire the weakest Dark Bolt she was capable of. With this intention engraved in her mind, she started the process of condensing the needle at her fingertip. Slow. Deliberate. Her mind was strained by the concentration it required. Casting the spell without thinking was easy. Almost trivial. But now that she wanted control over the finer details, it was different, straining. A bead of sweat pearled down her exposed neck. She released her breath. Dark Bolt.