Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 40 (Patreon)

Chapter 40: Ranger I

(Original Chapter Title: Ranger I)

Time for Ranthia to properly get to know her team and get a taste for Rangerin'!

Of course, I had to open with a time-honored classic, something I and every other reader loves: A display of sheer competence.

It was intentional that I never showed Ranthia's [Warrior] kit off much while she was in the Academy. She tried it out and learned its fundamentals, but I never showed her cutting loose on any of the simple training exercises—only situations where she couldn't. Now that she's arguably more [Warrior] than [Mage] I got to show off what she could do as a display of competence.

...Though in editing I decided ending it on an 'oops' note worked best. She IS somewhat new to it still and did something arguably dumb.

The teamwork of Ranger Team 13 though... is clearly not there yet. Ranthia was a bit of a wrecking ball on the overall plan and several of her teammates fell short. Thus: Teamwork Drills!

As much as our modern world loves trust falls and teambuilding exercises that boil down to "yay we had fun together, we've bonded" (in theory, seldom in practice), that isn't how Leoios operates. Instead, he has them display and learn one another's competencies and shortcomings through various challenges. This was why Tali was vetoed, Leoios wrote it off as mere luck (had he explained, Ranthia might have been able to convince him on the grounds of learning how they handle pressures outside their control). His game meanwhile focused on strategic planning and anticipation, not that Ranthia engaged with it enough to realize that.

I wonder if anyone who rereads will notice how badly Ranthia misjudged a couple of her teammates early in. I don't want to say anything more on this yet, but... yeah, one case in particular she was completely fooled by a facade.

...And no, it wasn't the [Healer], screw that guy. Elaine's journey didn't get to play with it MUCH beyond Perinthus but outside the Oathbound movement she started up, [Healers] of the era were generally insufferable "I know best" sorts. Heck the System probably gave some extra efficiency bonus (which they NEEDED) for it. They were one of the few professions that took some academic know-how (absorbed through their mentor) and suddenly they found themselves More Important Than Ever with the government's increased demand for competent [Healers]. This guy is old school and Ranthia does not mesh well with that kind of attitude.