Chương 90: Laying the Groundwork

That evening, I spent a few hours in the castle's library, searching through the books. Although I'd committed most of the gravity-based Art book to memory, I wanted my next Skill merge to be something else entirely. Lately, I'd been neglecting my archery. The combination of missions and hectic labyrinth runs hadn't left much time to practice, and with things the way they were, it was better to let Anchor do all the sharpshooting when it mattered.

But that didn't mean I couldn't work on my own archery and try to catch up in my own way. After all, the gravity Arts synergized well with archery, and as my Presence increased, it gave me far more options of how I was going to use Arts in combination with regular Resonance skills. I read through the library's books, trying to find anything about crossbow Skills and resonating them.

The problem wasn't just the difficulty in earning one (crossbows being easy to use made it hard to actually improve the Skill's tier) but in using it effectively in battle. I'd planned on getting my archery Skill to Apprentice-tier before trying to specialize it, but then to specialize it, I would need to merge it into a Journeyman-tier crossbow skill. I couldn't just change it when it was at Apprentice tier. So I created a list of Skills I'd need.

I was going to take archery to Apprentice on its own, then merge it into a Journeyman crossbow Skill. That would take a while, but at least I had something to work on, and plenty of fodder to also concentrate on. There were still the Skills that we had listed last night, which would be good for the 294th to work on. What kind of role model would I be if I didn't at least gain a few of those myself, too? They were going to be useful later on.

After folding up my list and sticking it in my pocket, I left the library and headed to the castle smithy. It was late, and everyone was packing up, getting ready to close the smithy for the day. But I caught Drywsone and the others just before it was too late.

"I'd like to place an order for a crossbow," I said. Drywsone stepped up to the counter, tilting his head.

"A crossbow?"

"I've seen a few of them around, especially in the mercenary companies. But I'm sure you guys could make a better one than most. Oh, also, I'm going to need some bolts."

"We know how to make one," Drywsone said.

"But we're simply questioning why a sapper would want to use a weapon like that. With it being…difficult to gain skills for, and all. It seems like an odd choice."

"My main weapon is a spear," I said.

"But I'd like to keep a backup weapon on me, which I don't have to worry about drawing. Something I can load and charge before battle and strap to my back, then fire when I need it." Drywsone nodded.

"You should have enough scrap in your allowance. We'll get working on it."

"Much appreciated."

"It'll be ready by the end of next week." I lingered around a little longer, waiting for a good moment. When the other blacksmiths weren't paying attention, I caught Shatter's gaze and placed the siphon down on the table. I whispered, "If one were to… uh, have maegen, would having aspected Presences help?" After all, the siphon, when it was complete, would pull aspected Presences out of its dead targets.

Of course, the rate of harvesting could also improve, which was what I had been more concerned about before, but now, after hearing about Slumberers, I was far more curious.

"You don't have maegen, though, so it doesn't matter," Shatter whispered back.

"Alright, but if I was a regular Path-walker…"

"A Presence that aligned with your maegen's aspect would, yes, in theory be a massive boon. But you're not going to get that from orcs. Their Presences will almost always have a rot or decay aspect. Once this guy is fully upgraded."

"Shatter, are you coming?" one of the other blacksmith apprentices called.

"On my way!" Shatter yelled back.

"I'll just leave this here," I said, tapping the siphon.

"Need anything else?" He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I might need to skim some metal off your scrap allowance, but you've gotten more than enough from your labyrinth runs for your crossbow and this." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Go for it," I replied.

"New armour's going to wait until later, anyway." ~ ~ ~ I wished there was more time before our next labyrinth run, but we couldn't afford to miss out just because we'd gone on a mission. Just two days after we arrived, we had our next run. I gathered with the others in the waiting room, a chamber buried beneath the castle's keep, waiting right in front of the labyrinth entrance. It wasn't anything fancy, but we were ready. All the other teams crammed in, awaiting the Drillmaster's signal.

My and my squad stood at the back, perched at the edge of the entry stairway, which gave me a view into the room. I counted the squads as best I could. There were supposed to be twenty-five of them, but I counted only nineteen now. During the battle of Oschester, we'd lost a number of recruits, and the survivors had been reorganized. But afterward, we'd only lost one more squad—due to a mishap in the Labyrinth. I didn't know the details, but some monster had wiped out the entire squad.

It was a risk of our training, and one the sappers accepted. Apparently, they expected a few more casualties before the end, especially once we got down to the lowest level. As the Drillmaster read off the tallies and our rankings, I glanced around at my squad. (I didn't really need to worry about my own ranking. I'd dropped down to number eight when we were gone, but I had checked my reading slate and already knew that.) The others had gotten better armour over the past few months.

Brawl wore a hauberk of chainmail still, but he had donned another layer of scale mail overtop, just like me. He'd gotten himself a helmet, made out of enchanted resources that he'd pulled from a dungeon run, but, like me, it didn't have a plume. But he'd also gotten double shoulder pauldrons, one for each side, and some cuisses and greaves for his legs. It was for the best, given his penchant for taking hits.

Anchor still wore mostly leather, but now, he had a lightweight chainmail vest beneath it to guard his torso and a pair of metal vambraces. On his head, he wore a lightweight diadem, also with enchanted metal (but that had been part of the reward for Oschester). It increased his Perception slightly—and maybe he'd get lucky and it'd save him from a deadly strike. Sage still wore no armour. A green mantle around her neck, embroidered with leaf and vine patterns at the edge.

It draped down, and she wore a loose-fitting leather corset below. Finally, she wore an armband with a red leaf pattern, signifying that she was a druid. As for her legs… well, they were still made of intertwined leaves and branches, just like Morph, except they didn't move. Not yet, at least. But whether Lord Ceonwin thought it was possible, it was best for the squad if we could get them functional again.

I'd considered asking if Morph needed armour, but the forest golem probably would've rejected it, and at worst, panicked like a cat with socks on. Besides, he could regrow most of the damage done to him given time. As for me? This week, I brought a longbow with me. I had to practice for my archery skill, even if it was significantly different than a crossbow. Yeah, I wasn't going to insist on practicing at the expense of my team, but if there was a chance, I had to get used to it.

A quiver of arrows hung at my hip like a sheathed sword, and I clipped my bow to a hook on my belt just behind it. Apparently, hanging your bow over your shoulder while it was strung was a terrible idea, and would absolutely damage the string. But I wasn't going to waste time stringing it in the dungeon, so my bow would just hang with my quiver until I needed it. When the drillmaster finished listing off our new ranks, he shouted, "You may begin!"

We all surged toward the labyrinth entrance, filtering in normally, then following our regular routes down into the main city cavern. The initial route through the upper levels was the same every time. It was simply a path to a starting point, where we were spaced far enough apart from the other squads. I'd memorized the route, and though I stayed wary—it was a Labyrinth, after all—I didn't worry too much about monsters. This upper level was completely clear here.

When we arrived at our starting point, a balcony overlooking the cavern, I scanned the buried city.

"What's the plan, sarge?" Anchor asked.

"We're working to improve our rankings today and get back to where we were before. We need our regular Presence income," I planned.

"On the way out, that's when we need to consider dealing with the three other Quarter Guardians." The others nodded.

"Raising our rankings?" Brawl asked.

"Wouldn't that mean going after the Quarter Guardians, brother? That raised our rankings greatly last time."

"I was thinking more along the lines of being the top scoring team in quantity today. It's not a great idea to go after a Quarter Guardian unprepared." Sure, we'd done it once before, but there were better ways to go about it, and the more we prepared, the easier it would be.

"Next week," I assured them, "We'll take another down. Until then, let's hunt." ~ ~ ~ The labyrinth dwellers this week were average. Skeletal warriors, for the most part, but also plenty of ruin-hounds and packmothers. We chewed through them with ease. A horde of shamblers caused us a little more trouble, with how they snuck up from behind, but even then, it wasn't much trouble. I practiced as much as I could with my bow, fighting until the horn sounded and we had to return.

It wasn't enough to get a skill upgrade, but it was an improvement. It was a good run to get us back on our feet. Now, I just had to hope that we topped the leaderboards for this week…