Book 2: Chapter 65 (Patreon)

Orrin gave Amir all the pointers on healing that he had gleaned in the past months and promised to give Amir more help in the future. He even considered bringing Amir along for some leveling, but the boy shot the idea down.

“I need to be careful at first. If the Hospital found out there is a new [Healer] in town, things could get dangerous.”

Orrin tapped his finger on the empty mug in front of him. “If you ever need help, go to Lord Catanzano. Tell him I sent you. He’ll help.”

Or else… Orrin thought darkly.

He totally rejected the three, no four bags of coffee that Amir handed to him. Yep. It would be a dick move to accept that as a gift… right? Orrin took a deep whiff of the beans as he walked back.

“Again!” Sasha shouted, making Daniel attack a log the size of a full tree with a dagger. “Stab harder.”

Orrin lounged with Madi. They watched Daniel get put through the wringer and enjoyed every moment of it. Madi even brought out some lemonade.

“How’s your training going?” Orrin asked, sipping the refreshing drink.

Daniel’s thrust took a chunk out of the wood. He was supposed to be using his skills to put his entire arm through the log but had succeeded in taking only the first few inches off.

“Amazing,” Madi answered, turning away from the spectacle. “I’ve reached [Spear Proficiency] Level 2 yesterday.”

“You unlocked it?”

“No,” Madi’s smile widened. “I earned it. I hit my teacher and sent him flying. When he landed, I got the notification.”

Orrin was impressed. Fighting classes had to train for years to level up their skills without spending points and there was no guarantee it would happen. He’d yet to receive a single weapon proficiency, despite all his practice. It was getting to the point that Orrin was considering spending some of his sweet, sweet ability points on [Sword Proficiency].

“That’s awesome, Madi,” Orrin congratulated her.

They sat in silence, except for the grunts of Daniel in the background. Madi opened her mouth but closed it before speaking.

The third time she stopped herself from talking, Orrin rolled his head and blinked in an exaggerated motion. “What?”

“Huh?”

“You want to say something. What is it?”

“I don’t—”

“Madi, you didn’t even notice that Daniel took his shirt off. What’s on your mind?”

“He took his shirt off?” Madi’s head snapped back around. “No, he didn’t.”

“No, he didn’t. But you thought he might have.”

Madi sighed. “I wanted to know if you thought about changing my class.”

Orrin knew she had been talking to Daniel about this. His friend had brought it up multiple times. They’d argued over the pros and cons. He hadn’t told Daniel about Amir but seeing it work gave him a bit more confidence. “Do you know for sure what the class you want does? Like, you aren’t going to regret it?”

Madi sat straighter and put her cup down. “Orrin, when I first got [Prism Conjurer], I was so happy. It isn’t unheard of to unlock but not a lot of people get it anymore. I thought that the superior version was just a story. I’m sure Daniel told you about that. Denna is a [Superior Prism Conjurer] but every story we tell has someone with a made-up class. I wanted to be able to do what she does in the stories. She can use light and fire magic to create different attacks. [Sunbeam], the spell in that book we found at the Guild, do you remember? That’s one of her core spells. Most of her story is stuff like ‘Denna cast [Sunbeam] through the fourth circuit and green light filled the cavern,’ which isn’t a real skill or anything. When you said the class actually exists… I’d risk it. I want this Orrin. Please.”

Orrin watched Daniel hacking away with his dagger. The cuts were getting deeper. “You’d have to start over at level one.”

Madi froze. “You don’t know that for sure, right? Maybe my levels would transfer over or—”

“I used the power. It resets the class to one. You might even lose [Sunbeam]. What if Denna used a skill book for that attack and you can never find another?”

Madi paused and then did something that Orrin knew she would. Madi was her father’s daughter. She had thought through her options and figured out exactly what she wanted but now that she knew she hadn’t had all the facts, she asked for time to think about it. “Those are good points. I hadn’t considered… Can I have some time?”

Orrin grabbed her hand as she stood up to leave. “Madi, I’m not saying no. If you want this, I’ll do it.”

She squeezed his fingers. “Thank you, O.”

Orrin stood in the shower, letting the water hit his back as he activated [Way of the Water].

“Hey, Styx,” Orrin said as the watery man formed.

“WELCOME.”

Orrin didn’t move for a full two seconds. “What?”

“WELCOME.”

“You can talk?”

“YES.”

“What the fuck, dude? You’ve never talked before.”

“GATE.”

Orrin poked Styx’s arm. His finger dipped into the water, depressing the shape a bit. When he removed his hand, Styx formed up normally.

“The Gate upgraded you, huh?”

Styx didn’t respond but stepped side to side as he had in the past when Orrin asked a question that couldn’t be answered clearly.

“This is great,” Orrin cheered. “I have so much to ask you. What’s up with the statutes?”

“LATER.”

Orrin considered the answer. Either Styx wanted to train first, then talk or…

“I have to get past more Gates to learn about that?”

“YES.”

“Damn.” Orrin scratched his head. It didn’t really matter. He had come here to level his skill up. He wanted to fight Daniel and put him on his ass without using a buff or debuff. “Let’s train then.”

Styx moved his head in what might have been a nod. Orrin fell into Formless.

Styx sat on the ground.

“What?”

The watery hand patted the floor. “SIT.”

Orrin sighed as he knelt and sat down. “What are we doing, Styx?”

“FOCUS.”

Styx held his hands out, inches apart, as if he were about to clap.

Orrin copied him.

“FOCUS.”

“I am.”

Styx shook his hands.

Orrin watched a few small water particles shake off and land around him. The water didn’t stay on the marble tile but disappeared after a moment. What? Where did it go?

He looked around where Styx was sitting. The floor should be wet where the man was standing, right? Orrin thought back to the long fights. Even when he’d destroyed Styx in a battle, the man pulled himself back together. The floor should have kept some moisture though. Orrin couldn’t remember ever thinking the floor was slippery.

“FOCUS.”

Orrin almost argued that he was but while turning his head up a little light refracted off something between Styx’s hands. Orrin focused not on his teacher but on the space between his palms.

A single water droplet hovered between Styx’s outstretched hands. Not touching him but flying in the space between.

“Are you using magic?” Orrin asked excitedly.

“REFLECT.”

Orrin was stumped. He asked more questions but Styx only sat still, repeating the one word over and over.

“REFLECT.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Orrin shouted.

He’d tried attacking Styx but he just reformed and yelled his single-word response. He’d sat in the same position and held his hands out. He’d tried to scoop some water out of Styx and drip it between his hands but the water didn’t float like it did for Styx. He was missing something.

Or maybe [Way of the Water] is supposed to be used by a [Water Mage] and I’ve reached a roadblock.

Orrin shivered at the thought. He could buy a spell but that would suck. He didn’t want to spend more ability points on things right now. He was still trying to weigh the different options from [Cure Small Wounds] leveling up.

“REFLECT.”

“You reflect,” Orrin countered, slapping Styx’s arms to dash water across the room.

Orrin’s hand slowed as it neared Styx and then was pushed away.

“What the fuck was that?”

“REFLECT.”

Orrin sat still and watched the bead of water. He had thought it was part of Styx’s body but the way it rippled was different. It was like a heartbeat of power hit it from both directions, keeping it from moving. Like Styx was holding it there with his will alone. Orrin couldn’t sense any mana or magic coming from Styx.

“How are you reflecting, Styx?”

The man of water didn’t have distinct facial features but Orrin swore he could make out a smile.

“AVOID.”

Avoid what? Avoid the water from falling down? Orrin reached out and took a handful of water from Styx. He let it drip from one hand down to the other.

“Like this? Avoid the water?” Orrin moved his hand back and forth, letting the drops splash to the ground.

Styx didn’t respond.

“This is pointless.” Orrin let the rest of the water fall out of his hand and made to stand up. “I’ve wasted too much of my day doing this. I’ll come back when I’ve—”

As Orrin stood, Styx moved a hand out to attack his leg. Orrin fell into a dodge. Styx’s arm was overextended, and Orrin used Piercing Dive to counterattack. His hand went through Styx’s arm, severing the watery appendage. Water splashed to the ground.

Except one drop of water that shot away from his palm to land ten feet away.

It undulated just like the one between Styx’s hands.

“Oh.”

Four hours later, Orrin got his notification.

[Way of the   Water] 30% 6/20 completed.

Continue or   Save Progress?

Orrin bowed to Styx and left the simulation. Turning off the water, he toweled off. He said a silent thank you to Arandir for the advice to practice in water for his water skill. The feeling of the shower hitting his body repeatedly helped him understand the movements better. He wasn’t sure he would have noticed that first single drop of water if the feeling hadn’t been so different from the hundreds of drops hitting his back.

He held his hands slightly apart and pushed. Every time he attacked or dodged using [Way of the Water], Orrin was using his body’s energy. The push of his hand created movement, while the drag away from an opponent created friction. With his fighting skill, he could use these forces in a minute way to make a bead of water hover.

Orrin watched the single drop of water shiver between his hands until he lost the train of thought and it dropped.

To be honest, he had no idea why this was part of a fighting skill. He didn’t think it was practical to make water hover in the middle of a fight but it was the first time he hadn’t needed to get his ass beaten to level up the skill.

Orrin kept playing with the new skill until Daniel fell into the bed next to him.

“I’m never using a dagger again,” Daniel muttered, his face in his pillow.

“Take a shower. You stink.”

“Maybe I’ll use it one more time,” Daniel turned his face and threatened Orrin. “Just a little stabby stabby on you. Where have you been? Madi came looking for you.”

“Taking a shower and leveling [Way of the Water]. Did you break the tree in half?”

Daniel laughed. “It was the size of a tree, wasn’t it? I got halfway through it with one strike but Sasha said that was good enough for now. Did your training go well?”

“I can make a drop of water hover between my hands using the power of my mind.”

“…”

“…”

“You could just say no,” Daniel grunted as he swung back off the bed and gathered a spare set of clothes. “I hope you didn’t use all the water up.”

Orrin moved the bead between his hands, ignoring Daniel.