Chương 14: Learning EnTranced

"This…" Tiya blurted out, startled by the clarity going through her mind, leaping to her feet in reaction and setting her feet as if she was going to fight. She could feel… possibility flowing around her, upon her. Something was there, something that was wrapped around and protecting her. It felt like… like the way the world was watching her, and measuring what she was worth. She couldn't tell it about Deuce, or even Clopper, sitting there watching all this placidly.

But this clear, calm energy felt like it was refined and passed down through a hundred hands before it came to her. Her feet were set, her hands were up, and she was also aware. It was like the training to combat being disarmed, to avoid grapples, to escape someone trying to trample you, or shove you aside, or break your shield. It felt like she had iron and precision reinforcing all of her movements, anchoring her to the ground, making her next to immovable if anyone tried such a thing.

She could also feel the power thrumming against her protective field of… Soak? That was what Deuce called it. The Warrior Magic that allowed someone to survive hits which should have killed them, falls which should have broken something, wounds which should have impaled them. It was a form of proactive Healing! She knew right away that this was going to be important for her staying power. -Be aware of the time.

You've got three Focus Feats, so you've got 13 rounds, or a little bit over two minutes that you can persist in this state before it is released. Once it is, you can't enter the Focused trance again until you get at least a few minutes of rest. - Her thoughts were snappier, faster, clearer.

"This Healing effect. Any particulars that are important?" she asked quickly. -Yes. Combat Vigor replenishes only Soak, it does so at a constant rate, but it will not repair Soak damage that is still there when it is finished. So, you can't keep going back and forth between Focus States and heal yourself all the way up. -You also can't enter and exit the Combat Focus Trance as you like. This first time is more a reaction to it being available.

From now forward, you'll actually have to be in real combat and be attacked for it to kick on and benefits be available. - Combat Vigor gives you more staying and recovery power, but it doesn't help actual physical injury, only your Soak. And if it doesn't get to some damage, your next Trance won't affect it, either, it's considered 'set'. That said, it can save you in a fight, and it helps recover for the next one a lot. -"Yes, I can picture that!"

she agreed readily, moving around, feeling her steps adjusting, balance shifting to some high paradigm that was more efficient, stronger, and used her balance and weight more effectively. It was a wonderful feeling, of being more competent and accomplished than she actually was, borrowing the skills of others who'd walked the same road she had and knew what she had to learn. All this Karma was just like being taught at speed.

But as Deuce had said, she couldn't keep it up, and it dissipated in just a bit over two minutes from when she threw the levers. She looked down at her feet, the enlightenment on how to stop and balance and brace all gone… but hints of what she could work on were left in her mind, giving her guidance on what to gain in the future!

"That was really, really cool, Deuce," she said to him, sitting back down at the low fire next to him.

"Like hooking right into my ancestors and having them teach more directly what I needed to know than ever before!" He nodded somberly. -You're recalling ancestral knowledge, the Karma just says you made it your own. It's the oldest and most primal form of magic known, and why mortals can rise to great power to face the great beings and creatures of this world. -"As opposed to fighting one another?" she half-snarled in return. -Plenty of help with that, too, - he just /nodded soberly.

"And you could learn all of this, but because you can learn spellcasting, you can't learn it as effectively. That's… reassuring in a weird way, Deuce," she had to admit playfully. -I agree. It gives non-Casters something to be proud of, even if it's not the best, - he agreed far more seriously.

"And there's a lot more of this for me to learn." Her blue eyes gleamed with the potential. -Yes. We're going to try and get your current Fighter Levels all filled up, then we're going to do a pivot into something new. Soul Warrior! - Deuce /said excitedly. That sounded interesting, too.

"What's that?" she asked reasonably. His response was another cute sigh. -I would have expected the north to know of Soul Magic, if anyone did, - he /muttered quietly. -Soul Essence and ki are the two energies that Primos are most likely to be able to wield, even if it is restricted somewhat. Gaining lots of Soul Essence is crucial to your Vajra improving, but we aren't even a part of the way to that, yet. - A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Soul Essence? The power of my soul?" That sounded incredibly awesome, smacking people with her soul! -Yes. It is very, very useful. You'll only be able to use it with Soul Feats and magical items… like Soul Tattoos. - Something glimmered at his throat, and what she'd thought was a birthmark on him linking him to the Silver Queen suddenly proved to be anything but, as it began glowing a very solid, metallic Gold there about his neck.

-This is an Arcane Focus, a Soul Tattoo being used to emulate it, since I don't have a lot of Soul Essence to use, either. - Actually, just enough to max that Soul-Tat and Metamagic Soul, he thought to himself. -We want enough to be able to reinforce your hands, arms, and shoulders, and maybe your feet, if we can. -It's the only Class you're currently capable of taking to the side right now, because your Constitution is high enough to qualify for the new Class under existing Rules of Magic.

Basically, you've got the Talent to be really good at it, so you can start with it."

"Soul Warrior," she repeated dubiously.

"Well, it sounds cool enough. What exactly can it do that being a normal fighter can't?" she asked directly. -Do things that stack. Especially beneficial if using magical items. Saves time and effort. Moreover, because I'm around, you've got a huge cheat! - That earned a smile from her.

"I knew that already, Deuce," she winked at her son, who promptly blushed earnestly. -This is different, - he /assured her hastily. -Powered Soul Warriors can bring forth the essence of their souls and shape them into different powerful, personal effects called Soulshapes. Primos and Forsaken cannot do that, their souls aren't flexible and morphable enough. But… they can achieve exactly the same thing by using Soul Tattoos attuned to specific Shapes, and then assign the Soul Essence to those.

And I know how to scribe those Soul Tats on you! -"Painting my skin?" Tiya was a little bit skeptical of that.

"That is usually a sign of decadent Southerners or whores, unless it is done by a Warrior Lodge or something." -Oh, they look something like this. - The Holo flipped up, and it was an image of her, not wearing much clothing beside her undergarments, and she was definitely painted in many colors! Her eyebrows rose for her hairline at seeing the patterns of the Soul Tats on her arms, legs, hands, throat, upper back/shoulders, and around her waist. Then the illusion's eyes glowed, and the Soul Tats lit up one by one.

A cloak of fire spilling off her back and wreathing her in protective flames. Bands of white around her arms that gleamed like armored muscles. Black gloves that increased the size of her fists and grip. Rabbit fur around her shins and feet, and mist streaming off her heels like the Wave-Skating Step visualized.

From about her waist, a pair of distinctly inhuman and overlarge arms of black bone rippled into sight, hovering there and moving about in any direction, unanchored as they were by human limitations, and able to snatch up two shields to protect her front and back while she wielded her Axe. She did not look like someone who should be crossed, Tiya stared in rapture. The flames swirling about her hair were particularly eye-catching. Ahem! A bit embarrassed, she straightened herself up self-consciously.

"Right! If you say this is the way to go, I think I can put up with it, Deuce!" she said quickly. She noticed he was careful not to grin. -I'm sure you'd look even better with proper armor, Mother! - he /noted slyly to her.

"Little brat!" she said without force as the illusion faded.

"So, after we fill in the things I am missing with Fighter, we do this. But… I can only do a couple of those things a day," she recalled smartly.

"So it's going to be a while. What are we going to do in the meantime?" -First of all, we're going to Burn off some of our loot to empower our Rings and Bull. Once we have those, I can talk to the Land and see if there's any problems around it would like to see fixed. Fixing them is always worth Karma if recognized by the Land… or if there's something particularly big and nasty around nobody will mind seeing gone. -"Oh, adventuring!

Up north, there were always ogres and trolls and giants and whatnot to fight, if you were feeling particularly brave!" she agreed.

"They knew enough not to raid our villages, but they were always hungry for the flesh of humans, and never got enough of it!" -I prefer killing dangerous beasts to humanoid creatures minding their own business, but if there's violence to happen, I prefer it to be on my terms and not theirs. Also realize that if we start killing such things off, the others will start gathering and organizing in retaliation. Adventurers can be a very mixed blessing to a community, unless it is an expanding or defending mission.

Hunting is generally tolerated enough. - She thought about that, and nodded reluctantly.

"Nobody cared if you wanted to go test your strength against the Jotun-kin back home. It might be something different here, I see. We're already stirring up trouble by killing the slime and vermin, and they'll try to hang us for it, at least around here." -I would prefer not to have to engage in the mass killing of villagers and civilians, - Deuce /noted calmly. -Shall we get on with our day now? - Okay, this was much worse than I thought it would be. I was Communing with Nature.

I was letting Mother experience the sensation of the awareness of the Land, its vastness, the slow immensity and all-pervading awareness of it. Everywhere, the sensation of life, its forms and numbers.

The sheer amount of the stone beneath us that formed the mantle, getting hotter and hotter the further down you went, yet the great breaks of buried mountains smashing into one another from continental plates shifting in these mountains, making us feel so small… And what mortals did to it. Every paved road was a blankness stretching across that awareness. Every walled city and village a place and circle where nothing was known. Fences were Wards against the Land, farms were blots of nothingness.

Even underneath the cities the obfuscation extended, from cellars and dungeons and sewers, while mines drilled like the empty wounds left by worms through stolid mountains resisting the gentle breath and tears of the ages that slowly wore them down. And there were some nasty dark spots in my shared view of this land. My Caster Level was already functionally at Twenty with Three Stars, even if my Valences were those of a Ten. So I was only looking at the locations of everything within twoscore miles and, um, wow.