Chapter Thirty-Six - Spoonfed Lessons

Still the same shitty AI art... damn

But you know what art ISN'T AI? All of this:

By Jegsuu

By Sebastian

and these are early WIPs by SlothBeing!

... I have spent so much on art, lmao! Anyway, I'm back home now! So writing can get back to a normal pace <3

***

Lucky leapt back, narrowly avoiding a swing from the monster, then, when the skin under its arm was exposed, she brought her sword up and thrust--rather awkwardly--into it.

The blade skipped on stone, but it did plunge into the monster’s flesh, and with a hard shove, she managed to dig it in deeper, enough that the monster’s scream turned into a rattling death noise.

She removed her sword, then stepped back, watching the corpse carefully to confirm it was dead.

[Soldier] has leveled up!

[Soldier] level 2

Constitution +1

Lucky blinked, then grinned wide. She’d done it! “Level two!” she said before turning towards her master. 

Rosario was standing some ways back, hip cocked and looking for all the world as if nothing could bother her. She simply nodded. “Good.”

This was their second encounter with [Rock Gremlins] and the second she had fought and killed.

“Two kills... hmm,” Rosario said. She took on a look that Lucky was starting to recognize. It came out whenever the woman was about to say something backed by years of experience but which nonetheless always sounded wild. “Two kills, but also a day spend doing soldierly things. Let’s call it two plus X. Assuming the usual exponential progression needs, tomorrow you’ll have to kill four such monsters. The day after eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, then sixty-four and so on.”

“Methinks we’ll run out of gremlins before Lucky becomes any sort of saint. Unless her Title is to be The UnLucky Saint of Rock Gremlins,” Cricket said.

“Of course. Spawn rates can’t sustain that kind of levelling grind... another difference. Ah, but in any case, I know that there is a strong diminishing return for doing the same task or fighting the same monster, so we’ll simply have to find newer, stronger foes to test Lucky against. She’s still only learning her fundamentals. In any case, we’ll hopefully run into enough foes that she can level up once a day or so.”

“Once a day?” Lucky muttered. That was... crazy. But she believed in Rosario! 

“Speaking of novel experiences,” Rosario said as she looked around.

They had made it to the top of one of the first mountains overlooking Ofrustaoir. The city was little more than lights in the far distance, though she could make out its walls still. A day’s travel uphill had amounted to this. The sun was starting to make its way down along towards the horizon to the west. It was soon going to pass behind some of the larger mountains that way.

Fortunately, they had made it to a camping spot, just a flat area with a few trees for shade and some dirt on the ground in the lee of a hill. There were spots on the ground where previous tents had been made and some pegs left over, even a fire pit was left over, with a small stack of dried branches. 

This was obviously a spot that people used with some frequency.

“Crickey, do you know how to gather wood?” Rosario asked. 

“Must thou give me these tasks? Can I not simply be joyous company without staining my hands?” Cricket asked.

“Thank you, Cricket,” Rosario said. She reached to the side and pulled out three items from her inventory. It was a lot. Inventory space was directly tied to one’s Strength, so... well, it was probably not too surprising that a [Swordmaster] was strong. “Lucky, these are tents and bedrolls. Setting up a camp is a soldier’s duty. Now, I don’t want you to think that I’m merely foisting this work off on you, I--”

“No, I understand,” Lucky said with a bow. 

When she was growing up, her family... her...

She swallowed. When she was growing up, her family would give her and the other children small, simple tasks. They’d gain little to no experience from those tasks themselves, but to a new [Farmhand] or the like, they were far more valuable.

“Thank you,” Rosario said. “We’ll be buying you a spade in the next town. For digging trenches and latrines. And I imagine we’ll both be learning how to build palisades and the like. We might want to have a conversation with some veterans as well, to pick up some tricks and decide what else to practice. Most combat jobs grow with combat, but many of them need more than mere fighting.”

“I understand,” Lucky said. She was quick to take the tents and start to try to figure them out. It was a lot, they weren’t laid out simply, and she feared that the puzzle was beyond her, but she persevered, even if she hurt all over.

“Oi oi, what’s all this?”

Lucky paused in the act of setting up the second tent to look over towards a small group walking their way. There were six of them, adventurers by the armour and weapons, and they were clearly walking right into their small camp.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” Rosario said. “I hope the day finds you well?”

Lucky was keenly aware that all six were men, and a quick scan with [Inspect] showed that three of them were third tier, with the rest somewhere in the mid-second tier. All of their classes were combat-oriented, but two of those third tiers stood out. A shorter man with the [Tang Ronin] job, and a bigger man, with a nice moustache and a rather cocky look to him who was also a [Swordsmaster], level 72. 

“The day finds us well, but the night could be better,” the [Swordsmaster] said. “But I’m afraid that we may have a bit of a conflict, my dear.”

Rosario hummed. “And why is that?” 

“Why you see, this is our camp. One of many. Are you a member of the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“We are not. Merely travellers.”

“Then I’ll have to kindly ask that you vacate the premises... though... I see that you’re something of a sword-user yourself. Perhaps we could come to some sort of agreement?”

Some of the men jostled each other at the back, and Lucky felt her ears twitch back as she overheard what they said. She was raised in a farming village, she was no stranger to crass commentary... or so she thought. Being out in the wider world was disabusing her of many things she took for granted, including the kindness of some strangers.

“Gentleman?” Rosario asked. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve got some swords for you to handle, elf,” one of the men at the back said. He laughed like a braying donkey and grabbed at his crotch. “Could keep the tents warm to--”

The men all choked on the air as it grew thick. Lucky felt it as well. Rosario’s mere gaze settled on the entire area as if a god were deigning to pay them the attention they didn’t deserve. 

“Let’s make a game of it, then,” Rosario said. “I was just meaning to show my apprentice a few moves. I see that you of you no doubt think yourselves competent. How about a friendly spar? You two against me?”

The [Swordmaster] and the [Tang Ronin] recovered best. “Oh?” the [Swordmaster] asked. “What kind of duel?”

“To first blood,” Rosario said. “Winner gets the camp for the night. Nice and easy, no? Or are you too cowardly to accept?”

“You would accuse us of cowardice?” the [Tang Ronin] asked.

“Yes,” Rosario replied.

“You dare?” 

“I do. You didn’t speak up as that animal in your group insulted a peer in the art of the blade. That makes you a coward. Or did you not speak against the swine because you agreed with his sentiment? That makes you... something else.”

The [Swordmaster] cleared his throat. “A duel would be nice. It could be what I need to push to the next level. One at a time then!”

“No. You may come together,” Rosario said. She reached into her inventory and pulled out a small box, then she opened it. It was a camping set. Cutlery and food preparation items. From this, she extracted... a spoon. “This will suffice.”

“You mock us,” the ronin said.

“You may have the first move,” Rosario said. “Lucky, do pay attention.”

Lucky did, and she was glad for it, though she truly wasn’t sure what she learned from watching two grown men with weapons be handled in such a way.

The [Swordmaster] charged in first, going for a quick stab clearly aimed at Rosaio’s leg. Was he trying for a non-lethal blow? That was nice of him.

Rosario parried his stab with the hilt of her spoon, holding it pinched between two fingers. “Rather slow. Try using some skills?”

The [Tang Ronin] had less pity. He came in with a powerful sweep that made the air blow away... only for Rosario to capture that wind with the spoon the way someone might splash themselves with water while doing the dishes. The [Tang Ronin] went flying back.

Then Rosario disappeared from where she stood and appeared behind the [Swordmaster]. His eyes widened and he moved to parry but--

Her spoon smacked him on the head with a hard thwap and the man crashed to his knees.

“Come now,” Rosario said as she inspected the cutlery. “I haven’t seen any blood yet.”

***