Chapter 74: Team Training (Patreon)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12TlGKiRw61z1HYvg5kE8NpE-FpWY3ClTlKQ5CaP5RcQ/edit?usp=sharing

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AN: Two chapters today, make sure you don't miss one!

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The princess turned around to see Cayden waiting behind her, before slowly lowering her weapon and stepping away from the dummy with a nod. From the corner of his eye, Cayden noticed one of Valeria's followers who had been flinging shards of ice at a nearby dummy turn towards them with an angry expression before Marrianne stepped between them and placated the girl with just a few quiet words.

"What did you wish to speak with me about?" Valeria asked.

Cayden took a few steps away from the dummies and the line of students training against them, the princess sedately following, until they had about ten feet of cleared space between them and the nearest other students. They still had the attention of many nearby students, those whose 'training' consisted more of watching and listening for gossip than any actual exercises, but at least now they were hopefully far enough away that, with the ambient noises of skills activating and impacts between weapons, no one would be able to hear their words.

Even so, Cayden kept his voice low, knowing that many of the surrounding students had a perception stat much greater than his own. "I have a couple questions for you – when will I be able to see my sister again?"

"I have duties this coming Dyneday, but I will be free on the following to set up a meeting. I will send a note to your room with the details."

Cayden grimaced. This would all be so much easier if he could just pass a note under the princess' door. But aside from the security risk of simply passing a note, he didn't even know where the princess' rooms were. And tailing her or asking other students for that information felt like he'd be crossing a line in the creepiness department.

"Second question, then," Cayden began, and then he paused. "Actually, before that – is there a better way I can get you a message in the future?"

The princess stared at Cayden in silence for a few moments before responding. "Speak to Marrianne. She is under less scrutiny, and can pass along anything you have to say."

"You trust her?" Cayden asked, and the princess maintained her expressionless stare while Cayden grimaced. That had been a stupid question, he realized; of course she trusted her friend – at least more than she trusted Cayden.  "Sorry, third thing then. I…was hoping you might help me with a skill. How it works, its benefits and drawbacks, and most importantly, how to get it." For the first time in their conversation, Cayden saw a flicker of emotion on the princess' face as her eyebrows moved together by just the slightest amount. Cayden lowered his voice even further. "It's called [Sacrifice Vitality]."

If Cayden had thought the princess had been expressionless before, it was nothing compared to now as she froze in place, Cayden wondering if she was even still breathing.

"I'm not trying to threaten or bribe you or anything like that," he hurriedly added. "I just kinda figured out what your skill might be from watching you fight and something I read. And I feel like it might be an appropriate skill for my build, too." Cayden didn't think it'd come down to it, but on the off chance the penalty of figuring out a royal's skill was a visit from an assassin in the night, he didn't want Elise to share the blame.

Several more seconds passed in silence, until finally, the princess spoke. "Bulheim's The Optimized Build. Second floor of the Royal Library." And then, just as suddenly as she began speaking, she turned and returned to her dummy. Cayden followed her with his eyes – along with the eyes of many of the other male students – until a bell rang out over the academy and he shook himself free from her spell.

Tearing his gaze away from the back of the princess' retreating form, Cayden hurried from the crowded arena. It was time for his first team training with his roommates.

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Waiting for the princess had taken longer than he'd expected, and Cayden had missed dinner, but that wasn't as big of a deal as it might be for some others – Cayden was no noble who'd never missed a meal in his life. Of course, he had other advantages in that area, too. He wasn't sure what subcategory 'hunger' might fall under, be it physical, mental, or metaphysical, but [Resistance] helped him deal with his hunger pangs. It didn't reduce his need to eat – go long enough without food and he'd grow weak and collapse like anyone else – but it did kick the can of hunger's effects further down the road.

The sun was nearing the edge of the horizon when Cayden finally made his way across campus to where his team was meeting. That didn't mean much, though, for a school with as much money and access to magic as the Delver's Academy. Glowstones were easy enough for most businesses in Avernon to acquire – the academy could be lit up like it was daytime if it so desired.

It mattered even less for Cayden's upcoming session with his teammates, since Velic had gone through the trouble of booking one of the indoor sparring rooms. It had all of the amenities of a normal training arena but provided an extra level of privacy for those who wanted to practice with skills they intended to keep secret.

Cayden had never been in one of the indoor sparring rooms, or even visited the building they were located in, but it was easy enough to find on his map, and the rooms were helpfully numbered. After fast-walking through the hallways for a few minutes and double-checking the note he'd written the details of the room Velic had reserved for them, he finally found his destination.

"Sorry I'm late," he said as he walked into the thirty-by-thirty-foot square room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Velic was leaning against one of the walls, which he pushed off into a fully-standing position as Cayden entered. Marvenal already stood next to him at attention, and it took Cayden a moment to locate the shadows marking Delphia's position. She wasn't quite in the farthest possible position from Cayden's two other roommates, but she wasn't too far off.

"No matter at all. We were just chatting, enjoying each other's company," Velic replied with an easy smile.

Somehow, Cayden doubted that.

"Now that you're here, though, we can get started. I have been thinking about Instructor Barry's feedback, and while I believe he was more critical than we deserved, I do not believe his criticisms were entirely misplaced. We functioned as four individuals fighting together rather than as a team. And unfortunately, despite our skills, I do not believe that will be enough." With a dramatic flourish, he whipped a sheet of paper from his sleeve and unrolled it in front of them.

It was too small for Cayden to easily read from where he stood, but it looked like a list of...names? "What's that?"

"It's a ranking of all the teams in our class, based on our performances in the first test. It's scheduled to be posted for everyone to see early next week, but I managed to get my hands on an early copy. And unlike what Instructor Barry stated in his assessment, this ranking is based on each team's overall combat power rather than just 'teamwork.'"

Cayden leaned forward to get a better look, and even Delphia seemed interested in the sheet of paper. "Where do we stand?"

"Take a look," Velic said, handing Cayden the paper. Cayden unfolded it completely as Delphia awkwardly moved to stand a few feet behind his shoulder. Cayden obligingly held the paper to the side, enabling her to read it without having to step any closer to him, and then returned his focus to the paper.

Immediately, Cayden could tell that, however Velic had managed to get the rankings early, it was off-the-books. Every other form of communication the academy had was written with neat and uniform penmanship, while this looked like it had been scrawled by a doctor in a rush. It was still legible, but only barely, and Cayden had to reread some sections as he scanned through the words.

There were a few lines at the top, evidently copied over from the official document, that detailed what Velic had already stated: this was a ranking of the teams' current combat prowess, and not their utility, teamwork, potential for growth, or anything else. He skimmed over the words, recognizing them as the instructors' way of saying 'don't put too much stock in this', until he got to the top of the list.

He immediately recognized the name placed there – after all, he'd just finished a conversation with her. Valeria Obel, Marrianne March, and two other people Cayden didn't recognize. Unless there was some royal family nepotism going on, which Cayden doubted based on how egalitarian everyone claimed the academy to be, the princess was much stronger than Cayden believed. Of course, he'd only seen her fight a single time against the Terravias, but aside from the princess's final [Compulsion], it hadn't left much of an impression.

Next in line was another team with a name Cayden recognized: Jeremy Cobbler. That, at least, wasn't much of a surprise. Regardless of the level of power of Jeremy's teammates, Cayden found it hard to imagine a situation where they wouldn't excel with Jeremy's powerful skill at their disposal. And if Jeremy was on a team with his roommates, that would mean they were all commoner adventurers who qualified for the academy on merit, which precluded any of them from being weak.

Cayden didn't recognize any of the names on the third-ranked team, and on the fourth he only recognized one: Ignar Blythe, his frontline combat sparring partner who displayed remarkable skill with his blades. And finally, much lower than he was hoping to find them, he found their team, ranked in fifth place out of a total...he scanned to the bottom of the list...forty-eight teams.

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that bad. It was great, in fact – top ten percent of their class, in an academy that was well known for the skill of its students. Yet for Cayden, it wasn't enough.

He was younger than almost all of the other students at Delver's and had started his adventuring career less than a year earlier. Yet in that year, he had given it his all, devoting almost every waking moment to pushing his build further under the guidance of a genius researcher. He didn't want to diminish the efforts of his fellow students – he was sure they had put in plenty of time and effort into their builds as well. But he couldn't imagine how anyone could put in much more time and effort than him. And he doubted they all had the same advantages.

The commoner adventurers likely didn't have access to the expert advice and knowledge that Elise could provide, relying more on the well-tread paths of common builds. Not that common builds were bad, but he doubted they included tier-three skills with races that allowed complete customization of stats. And while the nobles would have advice and knowledge on par with Elise's, they had more than just adventuring to split their attention. Cayden doubted there was a single noble at the academy without at least one social or politicking skill.

Between Elise’s and his prior world's knowledge, Cayden had advantages equal to many of the nobles, with none of the responsibilities. On top of that, if Instructor Barry's assessment was to be believed, he'd been paired with some of the most powerful nobles in their class. Cayden expected his team to be at the top of the rankings.

And while he couldn't read the faces of Marvenal or Delphia, it seemed that Velic, at least, felt the same.

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