Chương 128: Experiments and Entryways

After registering for the tournament, I pitched my tent near the edge of the tournament grounds. It was by a drainage ditch, which stank, but it was also out of the way, and no one wanted to spend much time around it. I cut an extra entrance in the back of the tent, which faced a row of tall, overgrown summer bushes, which I could use to sneak myself and Burr out of the tent. As for sleeping with my horse in my tent?

Since the main stable was damaged, it gave me an extra excuse—not just that I was an incompetent country thegn. I could just bring Burr into the tent, claim that I was using my tent for shelter, then bring her back to Castle Urcia when I had a chance, sneaking her through the shrubs behind the tent. I stripped off my armour, took off the illusion pendant from myself and Burr, then, staying low, set out out into the bushes behind the tent.

Once Burr and I were far enough away, I led her back to the path and returned to being Levi. Exhaling, I whispered to Burr, "We're in. Now, let's go back to the Castle and clean ourselves up for the day. ~ ~ ~ I had one more dungeon run before my next joust, and I planned to use it to its fullest capacity. But before I could, I needed to test out my Art a little more and get a betting feel for it. Lord Ceonwin said to save it for the Labyrinth runs, but I had other intentions.

I experimented next during our evening training session, technically in our free time. Using my Mass Hammer Art, I envisioned a sphere below the ground. At the moment, it only pulled in one direction, weighing down on me and my squadmates as we practiced in the area of the gravity's effect.

"Just as I was getting used to the pressure of your standard Art," Anchor muttered.

"You have to go and make it tougher."

"It didn't double again," I said.

"I don't have a perfect gauge, but it feels about twelve times the regular strength of gravity." Nothing changed on our first few attempts. Sure, the weight was heavier, but we'd gotten used to it, and we were much stronger than when we first began our evening training sessions under the extra gravitational force. Effectively, we were just keeping up. I wanted more than just keeping up, though. With my upgrade, I could create an extra column where my Art functioned. They could overlap.

I tried generating it in the same area, hoping to double the effect, but it wouldn't work. I tried, but no matter how hard I focused on creating two columns atop each other, my Art resisted me. There was no physical indication, but the System practically told me it was just impossible to trigger with the way my resonance nodes fought against me. But then a new idea came to me, and a better idea. I didn't have to trigger them on top of each other.

"Brawl, you're the strongest. Come with me into the sparring pit," I said, walking down the sandy slopes. When we arrived in the center, I triggered the Art below us, creating one column pushing down about forty-five degrees against him, then a second column at a different angle, pushing the opposite direction against me. They overlapped, pushing against me from both directions, and from above. I could barely stay standing, and darkness encroached on the edge of my vision.

When I tried to jab with a training spear, it was like someone had attached a sail to the end. It just didn't want to move, and it was like I was trying to fight when submersed in mud. I lunged forward again, fighting with all my might to land a hit. Brawl moved slightly faster, fighting against the fields, but he only barely knocked my spear away in time, then landed a counter-attack. After about thirty seconds, the effective field of the gravity ended. Gasping for air, I flopped onto my back.

My vision swam, and a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me, threatening to put me to sleep. I hadn't felt this tired since I'd used up my first point of Presence and drained myself to zero.

"... but I only used my Art thirteen times today…" I muttered.

"How many points of Presence do you have, Brother?" Brawl asked.

"Forty-two, now."

"Not all Arts only use one point of Presence," Sage reminded me.

"The more powerful an Art, the higher the Presence cost." I gulped, then tried to use my Art again. Nothing happened. I tried using a resonance Skill, and again, nothing happened.

"Well…" I said.

"I'm out of Presence." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I recounted the times I'd used it today. Up until now, I'd only used it with a single direction. I did a bit of quick math in my head, and figured it cost three points now to use a single well, and six points to use a double well. At most, I could use it fourteen times before I ran out of Presence, and seven times if I wanted a double well. Something about that didn't feel fair.

It had gotten a bit less efficient. But then again, the well definitely extended higher into the air, and it was stronger, more precise. It just meant that I needed to keep improving my Presence. The extra income from squiring for Lord Ceonwin, plus the income spread out across a few weeks as a reward for us saving his skin were helping, though. I said, "Well, then. I guess that's our cue to meet up with Yesman and Habit and keep practicing with them."

"You're not too tired?" Anchor asked.

"It's good practice," I said.

"And I needed a reminder of how it felt to fight while exhausted, I think. Can't let myself get too complacent or comfortable." ~ ~ ~ Up until the next Labyrinth run, my training continued as normal. I squired with Lord Ceonwin, practicing jousting with him in the early mornings. Riftrock training after breakfast, sparring after lunch. After dinner, training under the effect of gravity wells, then practicing with Yesman and Habit's squads.

I showed myself on the tournament grounds as Sir Ricdine a few times throughout the day, too. Lord Ceonwin dismissed me from my sapper training under whatever excuse he could pick for the day, and I spent a half hour wandering around the tournament camp as Sir Ricdine, pretending to be busy, pretending to eat travelling rations or clean my armour. It was for the best that any thegn who came across me gave me a dirty look and didn't want to engage with me.

There were rumours that I had cheated in my duel with Sir Leoheard, though as far as I knew, the man hadn't confirmed or denied anything. Besides, they'd see on my jousting day. As for the squires, I had a few boys approach me, asking if I needed a squire. I respectfully declined, claiming that I couldn't support them. Any of the taxes I'd gathered from my Hides of land, I said I returned them to my people—and thus, I couldn't support a squire. It disappointed them, but what was I supposed to do?

I couldn't rope anyone extra into this scheme. When it came time for the Labyrinth run, I prepared accordingly. While I wasn't going to forget about my Art, my Spearmanship was lagging behind. According to the library books—and there were plenty more about Spearmanship than there were about gravity-based Arts—your best bet was always to earn Skills encompassing specific fighting styles. General [Spearmanship] was easy to get. But once it reached Apprentice-tier, it was hard to make stronger.

If I wanted to improve it, I'd need to merge other Skills in. The good news was that I could gain Skills for specific spear styles, which wouldn't just fit into my general Art directly. Our afternoon sparring practice hadn't focused only on styles, because technically, we weren't supposed to do this until our second year at Castle Urcia, but it was getting close. In four or five months, it'd mark our one year anniversary for joining the training program. I didn't remember the exact date.

When we delved into the Labyrinth and reached our usual meeting spot, I told Yesman and Habit about my new merge, and kept everyone in the squad up to date on my limitations—I wouldn't be able to use my Arts as many times, but with them being stronger, they would manipulate the quarter golem far better, and make its movements more similar to the central level guardian. Before we entered the water golem's plaza, though, Yesman said, "We should end our practice session a little early.

I heard rumours from the other squads. On the far east side of the underground city, a new tunnel has opened up."

"A new tunnel?" I asked.

"Will it take us lower?"

"That's what I want to know," Yesman said.

"If this new tunnel will allow us to bypass the city altogether…"

"We'll save some time after the golem, then," I said, then led the way into the plaza.

"It sounds like it's worth checking out." Our practice against the golem went the same as it always did, though the golem's movements were far faster under my influence, now. Our squads reacted accordingly, practice and experience taking hold. Today, my main goal was to earn the [Sun Splinter] Skill. To gain a Skill specifically for a fighting style, you needed to only use it.

Instead of becoming proficient with just the spear, and having a base knowledge of the style, you needed to make the style the main focus of the Skill—which was easier said than done. You couldn't use anything outside the main style and you had to imagine the style as what you were using to fight, not the weapon. In the end, I earned plenty of bruises, and a little bit of scalding on my arm, but it was nothing Sage couldn't fix up.

Yesman called us aside before the end of the session, then said, "We should investigate that other tunnel." We followed him east, letting him lead our squads toward it. As we walked, I asked Sage (primarily, because she knew the most about history) and the others, "Are the Labyrinths ever capable of changing?" Sage didn't answer until we arrived. Yesman led us up to a gate in the wall.

It was thrice my height and wide enough for three wagons to trot through at once, and a tunnel just as large led away into the darkness, slowly curving away from us. Sage explained, "Yes, it is as I thought. The old underground cities were all connected to one another through enormous underground walkways. They could transport troops or supplies between them." I nodded.

"So it just leads to another city like this?"

"And one that's likely already been looted, and nowhere near as well maintained as this one," Anchor said.

"Not much point in going that way."

"And no obvious way to get down to the next level without defeating the level guardian," Yesman said.

"What I want to know is why now?" I walked to the edge of the gateway, then ran my hand along the edge, where a stone door would've slid open. It must have slid open recently, because there were fresh scrapes on the walls that the Labyrinth keepers hadn't fixed yet.

"Why open now?"

"The doors would've closed when the cities fell," Sage said.

"Hoping to isolate themselves in case the Dark Lord claimed one or two of them. But we don't know what controls the mechanisms. The Dark Lord might, now, have control over these sorts of things."

"We'll keep an eye out, then," I said.

"But we should—" The horn sounded, signalling that the Labyrinth run was over.

"—get back to the surface."