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A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Force of Nature
Rihaku
The Internet
Force of Nature
They convened at an Elementalist training grounds the next day, Letrizia alongside her ostensible classmates and Hunger with Gisena. The grounds themselves were no more than a rectangle of densely packed dirt, but there was an almost celebratory air to the proceedings - the high schoolers gawked at the two of them, turning to bombard Letrizia with questions, while Gisena set up a one-person cheer section.
Letrizia temporized, deflecting the interrogation with a mysterious flip of her hair, then began to explain the rules of engagement. There would be one warm-up and one serious match per challenger. At stake was, on part of Hunger, both a considerable sum of money and a substantial amount of time; on the part of the students, a massively smaller sum.
All involved understood that the main objective was to familiarize Hunger and Letrizia with their Elements; to facilitate this, a bonus payment would be made at the end, amount depending on Hunger and Letrizia's own assessments as to how they performed. Letrizia had assured the children that Hunger would score them generously.
"Alright, guess I'm up first! Nice to meetya, mister! Heard you killed a lot of Rotspawn yesterday." The first contender was a loud-mouthed redhead by the name of Aobaru, whose Element of Vigorflame could increase the strength of an person or object up to a set point, after which it caused them to explode. He was notable for his iron control over the Element, capable of inducing explosions seemingly without the intermediate step of strengthening his foes.
Hunger carefully set aside the Forebear's Blade and walked to the center of their makeshift arena. Aobaru offered him a fist bump which he neglected to return, but gave the boy a nod of acknowledgement.
"Er... okay! Well, you've got a buffing-type Element like me, right? I've got some tips and tricks I could show ya."
"That's right."
"Hm... okay, so if yours is anything like mine, it helps anyone that touches it, which is the main problem. You've got enemies in melee that would love to steal your buffs and equalize."
"Exactly."
"I've got a couple ways around that... but telling you would be boring. Best if I just show ya."
Hunger smirked. "Be my guest."
They retreated to opposite sides of the arena, and the first spar began. Aobaru immediately launched a pillar of Vigorflame at the ground, which bounced up and struck his body: the quantity of Element summoned was no less, but by focusing it into a vertical emission, enemies outside touch range would fail to benefit. Clever.
Hunger immediately tried the same, even as Aobaru rushed him. The boy was a surprisingly capable warrior but no match for Hunger's speed. He dodged the child's strikes, blasts, and grapple attempts easily as he tried to figure out how to make the pillar technique work. His first attempt had merely sent Edeldross into the ground, hurling himself skyward. Subsequent attempts spilled out into an explosive dome, nothing like the precisely controlled column of energy that Aobaru had manifested.
He frowned. Perhaps the warm-up spars were a mistake. The stakes were so low his Ring was unsatisfied. No power to be gained from such conflicts.
He fell to a hundredth of his normal speed and finally the boy caught up. They briefly exchanged blows and Hunger allowed the boy to prevail, hopeful it would entice more tricks out of him when they fought the second time.
"Well done. I concede."
The boy looked shocked for a moment before an overjoyed expression came across his features. "Holy shit, I won! I beat the Reckoner!"
"The Reckoner?"
"Yeah, the Reckoner of Rotspawn! It's what we've been calling you, Lord Hunger."
With mental reflexes capable of tracing a bullet in mid-flight, Hunger stopped himself from cringing. This... was a good thing. Notoriety could only improve his Astral Rank when he accomplished substantial feats, though he suspected his fight against the lesser Rotspawn did not qualify. "I see. An interesting name."
"Wo-hoo! Go Lord Reckoner!" Gisena called from the sidelines. From somewhere she'd produced white cloths that she and Letrizia had tied as headbands. His name was written on them in bold red ink. "Good match, have a drink?"
He rolled his eyes and took the proffered water. "It was a tough match, but I'm confident I can come back in the second round."
Aobaru was walking boastfully among his compatriots, fielding them questions with indifferent aplomb. "No big deal, I'm sure he was holding back like, massively..."
"Why'd you throw the match?" Letrizia pouted. "I had good money riding on you, Lord Reckoner!"
"Oh yeah? Is it for the warm-up or the fight itself?'
"Both!" She grumbled.
"I see. Then, if you don't want to lose the rest, I suggest you drop both parts of that title when addressing me in the future."
"H-hmph! Whatever you want. 'S not like I think it's cool or anything..."
"Good." He smiled, took another sip of water and returned to the field.
Before Aobaru returned, Hunger spent a long moment in contemplation. The Ring would disqualify any contest that was insufficiently challenging or lacked real stakes. In that event, he couldn't use his full power, or even one-tenth: the greater his chance of actually losing, the more quickly he would learn. One-fiftieth power ought to give him an edge while still retaining that essential element of risk. If he miscalibrated, so be it. Even this method would likely fail if he repeated it too many times against a given opponent. Luckily there was quite a variety here.
Aobaru walked back from the stands, his cocksure swagger replaced by serious determination. "Alright, let's do this. I've got a month's worth of part-time wages on the line, so don't expect me to go as easy as I did previous."
Hunger nodded, taking a low stance. As Letrizia's arm fell to indicate the match's beginning, Hunger immediately sprang forwards, catching his foe in a grapple before he could fire anything. He then emitted a thunderous blast of edeldross, saturating them both; with his speed and strength much the superior of his enemy's, the absolute difference in parameters merely grew. If Aobaru attempted to summon any of his own Element, Hunger could defeat him with a submission lock fairly trivially. His Ring flared slightly, a steady trickle of power which he fed into his mantle, willing it to increase his proficiency with Edeldross.
Before Aobaru could tap out, Hunger released him and withdrew to the edge of the arena. That had worked well, but it was a tactic to be kept in pocket against a physically inferior opponent. For general use he needed to master the pillar technique.
"That... was fast..." Aobaru said shakily. "Hm, guess you could beat me at any time, so my only chance is to get a great bonus. Alright, well, I think I see the problem in your technique."
"Oh?" Hunger waited patiently.
"Yeah. Looks like you have a force-based Element. Usually those can be solidified into a semi-inert state. While inert, they'll lose most of their unique properties and act as a generic solid. What you really want to do is form a lip of solidified Element at the bottom and sides of your blast. That way it'll bounce off the earth and hit you instead of seeping in or spreading everywhere. Why don't you give it a shot?"
"This isn't fair, you're getting all the instruction bonuses yourself!" Another boy heckled from the sidelines.
Aobaru made what appeared to be a rude gesture in response.
"I learn best under pressure. Take me out while I'm attempting it."
"Are you sure? I mean, that's-"
"Yes, and don't hold back. Otherwise it won't work as well."
Aobaru leapt forward, streams of fire launching him at radically higher speed. Hunger barely ducked out of the way, forming a frantic shield of edeldross that deflected the boy. Ah. The solidified edeldross that he used to make shields. That was what the kid was talking about. If he produced a thin amount to contain the pure Edeldross, the "pillar" technique was much simpler.
He fired downwards again and was gratified to feel a nearly-vertical column of his Element surrounding him.
"You've got it. Sheesh, that was fast," Aobaru panted, 'spent' after going all-out. Hunger raised an eyebrow. The kid was a good actor, but had a ways to go before he could fool Hunger. "Alright, the next level is density control. The pillar technique's good if you want to fire off a blast to buff one of your companions, but for solo buffing you really need to master density. Almost all buffing Elements have greater effects at higher density, so if you can compress an orb of it and hold it in your chest, you should see some noticeably improved effects. The boost will be strongest wherever you hold the orb, but should radiate out to the rest of your body."
"How do I compress it in the first place?" He frowned.
"Well, the best way is to just summon it compressed. Takes a few tries but that's the safest to avoid enemy-buffing. You have to summon lots of Element at one time, right?" He called forth a torrent of flame. "But there's nothing saying you can't summon a lot of Element in one space, as long as your fundamental control's good enough."
Aobaru gestured with his open palm, summoned an orb of searing brilliance. "Like this!"
He swiftly launched the orb at Hunger, following up with a spirited charge. Hunger ducked the orb but felt a line of boils form along the exposed side, the flesh bubbling up as if on the verge of eruption. Terrifying.
He attempted to do as his opponent had done, summoning an orb of concentrated edeldross. Though his sphere was much larger than his enemy's palm-sized orb, still it ended up considerably smaller than the tank-sized blasts he normally produced. Tucking it into his body, it melted seamlessly into his chest; a steady, glowing warmth that vivified and exalted every fiber of his being.
Firing wide columns of Edeldross to deflect his opponent's attacks, Hunger charged in again, only to be forced back as Aobaru finally stopped holding back. The boy produced a broad, deep wall of livid fire, crackling golden tongues stretching full to sky. Aobaru emerged from the wall similarly coated in flame, a set of densely focused orbs whirling about his head. One by one they flew at Hunger, who was forced to endure two blows to the leg and one to the torso, flesh rupturing raggedly as it exploded.
Shocked at the gruesome display, Aobaru faltered a moment, and Hunger sent him to earth with a quick chop to the back of the neck. He placed his palm gently but menacingly upon the boy's head. "Do you yield?"
"Uh, yeah, I yield. Holy crap that was hardcore. Do you just like, not feel pain?"
With the spar over, his other magics were unsealed. Hunger quickly repaired his wounds. "I do, but you learn to ignore that in combat. Perhaps my sense of pain has dulled over time."
"Jeez. As expected of the Reckoner, I guess. You're pretty cool for an old guy!"
"..."
Aobaru got up. "Anyway, there's one stage of enhancement beyond even density, but I haven't mastered it yet. We call it suffusion. You create a highly-dense construct of your Element in the exact shape of your body, and move it exactly as your body moves. That gives the heaviest augmentation of all, even better than just saturating yourself with a pillar of highly-dense Element, but it's really hard and requires continuous maintenance. The orb method is a lot stabler."
Interesting. He wondered why that was. Intuitively, a 'highly-dense pillar' ought to offer the greatest exposure possible to one's Element. Perhaps it was psychokinetic in nature, some aspect of the concentration itself focusing the Element's effect? "Good to know. Thanks."
"Hey, don't thank me. Just pay me well! I gotta make up for this lost lunch money." Aobaru grinned cheekily and handed over a pitiful sum.
"YEAH!!" Letrizia cheered wildly. She fired off a column of Pressure into the air. "I'm the best! I love gambling!!"
After that came a succession of considerably less impressive 'High' Elementalists, though Hunger's self-imposed restrictions nearly caught him out from time to time. Nonetheless by the end of the day he had gained an impressive competence in Edeldross manipulation without having lost a single (real) bout. Happily he paid out the students' bonuses, and was just about to leave when one final student arrived at the grounds.
She was a girl of about Letrizia's age, pretty and slender but not as tall as the Armament pilot, with eyes of dark violet in a similarly dark outfit. In her left hand she carried a slightly curved sword in a scabbard of polished wood. Her dark hair was drawn up in a ponytail spill of ink, stark contrast to her unhealthily pale skin. Her stance was light, alert; a fighter of professional skill, despite her nervous demeanor.
"Hope... I am not... too late," the girl said shakily, as Letrizia came over to greet the newcomer.
"Aeira!" Letrizia said happily. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it. Did your parents give you permission?"
"Ah, yes." Aeira replied. "It took much of the night, and today as well, but they have finally agreed to allow me to become a mercenary!"
She bowed deeply to Hunger, and then to Gisena. "Lord Hunger and Lady Allria, please permit me to travel alongside you! Letrizia has informed me of your mission and I would bring much in the way of novel capabilities. My Element, Shadowcord, dims light and deflects attention, allowing me to cloak you from detection even against automated systems. I am also a capable fighter with the sword, and can defeat most Sovereignty Armors in direct combat."
"Fascinating," Gisena remarked. "The information-theoretic implications of that attention-deflecting ability..."
"Aeira's really strong!" Letrizia gushed. "Maybe not as powerful as you, Hunger, but we could really use her stealth capabilities, and we've got plenty of money left over to pay her! Her family could really use it, and she can definitely take care of herself!"
---
The winners were [X] Ring of Power: Crimson Flare and [X] High Marshall.
[ ] Fine - She can guard Letrizia while you're away, and the outrageous output of every experienced Elementalist means she can even cloak Verschlengorge from detection. Perhaps it'll even work on Astral Beasts? If necessary, she may also be able to take the field against some weaker foes, or support Hunger from a distance with supplemental stealth. [7 Currency units / month]
[ ] Unacceptable - Proficient as she might be, it's nowhere near safe for her to adventure with the likes of you. Hunger is a Progression-type Cursebearer, Gisena is a (soon to be) High Sorceress with an extremely powerful and broad anti-supernatural defense, and Letrizia is a superweapon pilot. There's no room for an ordinary High Elementalist among your ranks, no matter how talented. [+.8 Arete, +1 pick to upcoming Experience]
---
As you will likely be facing the High Marshall soon, you may wish to pre-buy Stances, ensuring availability for the entire encounter. He outranks you significantly and has a powerful Soul Evocation. An abundance of caution would not be remiss here; Rank gaps of such size are dangerous to contest directly.
Tactics can also help, of course, but his Rank makes him difficult to deceive. You have 18.7 Arete with 1 put towards Crimson Flare.
[ ] Maximum Safety - Buy Hero-Defeating Stance and Guile-Defeating Stance (below).
*Combines high Charisma with a Rank nullification effect, vastly reducing the effectiveness of his greater Rank upon yours. Safest social option.
*Hero-Defeating Stance feeds into Foe-Defeating Stance, whereas Guile-Defeating Stance feeds into All-Defeating Stance. Not very synergistic in the long run.
*Expensive, but minimizes death %.
[ ] Somewhat Safe - Buy Guile-Defeating Stance and World-Defeating Stance (below)
*Both feed into All-Defeating Stance, so this is considerably more efficient than the above at the cost of reduced safety.
*You can only have two Stances active, so it won't make sense to buy Magic-Defeating Stance with this arrangement until you can afford All-Defeating Stance or have 6 Rank...
*Still expensive.
[ ] Kinda Safe - Buy Hero-Defeating Stance.
*It's not really that safe, but way better than Maximal Greed.
*Hero-Defeating Stance is almost always pretty good.
[ ] Maximal Greed - Don't buy anything.
*You will probably get rekt. He's 2.2 Ranks higher than you, literally everything you do will experience massive pushback from the universe itself.
*However, getting rekt does not mean you will necessarily die. You might still be able to retreat and limp away.
Guile-Defeating Stance - 7 Arete
A martial stance of the Forebear. Where comes the craven, who by shadowy pacts, scheming and circumstance seeks to undermine the wielder's unquestionable authority, they will find that age and treachery have already usurped that domain, and were lying in wait all the while. There can be no power behind the throne but he that sits the throne itself, if that sovereign is wise enough to adopt this stance of the Forebear. A pre-requisite for All-Defeating Stance.
++Wits, ++Wisdom, ++Charisma.
+2 Rank, ++++++++Manipulation for purposes of detecting, subverting, and overcoming hidden schemes, illusions, and deceptions. Apply the Power of Ruin against such efforts if hostile to the wielder. Be it a rapier feint or the meticulously calculated plot of eons, all forms of mistruth are laid bare before the Forebear's gaze.
World-Defeating Stance - 7 Arete
A martial stance of the Forebear. Forces natural and premeditated; forces unnatural and obscene - it matters not to the cause of the Forebear, whose march is steady and inevitable, carrying all before it. A billion realms brought to heel and countless more razed to ash, systems of the world in kaleidoscopic arrangement and all bent to his will. Meaningless as escape may be, more futile still is dissent: an enemy is just a future subject, and though they may forget the face of their fathers, the Forebear's visage is burned indelibly into their spirits.
If the user possesses all of the other [Type]-Defeating Stances, upgrades into All-Defeating Stance.
+.2 Rank, ++Luck, ++Intelligence, ++Protection
++++++Protection further against environmental harms, including from incompatible or hostile physics and metaphysics.
*Shelters wielder's powers from suppression or negation, even that resulting from a lack of magic or magical structures within the world.
*5x Power of Ruin against non-supernatural foes or phenomena beyond a human's ability to defeat.
---
Thanks to all my subscribers on Patreon! The amount of support has been utterly amazing! Blurb Libraries I and II, featuring upcoming blurbs, and The Star Forges of Plerion, featuring future quest content, are now available to patrons. Even more content coming soon!
They convened at an Elementalist training grounds the next day, Letrizia alongside her ostensible classmates and Hunger with Gisena. The grounds themselves were no more than a rectangle of densely packed dirt, but there was an almost celebratory air to the proceedings - the high schoolers gawked at the two of them, turning to bombard Letrizia with questions, while Gisena set up a one-person cheer section.
Letrizia temporized, deflecting the interrogation with a mysterious flip of her hair, then began to explain the rules of engagement. There would be one warm-up and one serious match per challenger. At stake was, on part of Hunger, both a considerable sum of money and a substantial amount of time; on the part of the students, a massively smaller sum.
All involved understood that the main objective was to familiarize Hunger and Letrizia with their Elements; to facilitate this, a bonus payment would be made at the end, amount depending on Hunger and Letrizia's own assessments as to how they performed. Letrizia had assured the children that Hunger would score them generously.
"Alright, guess I'm up first! Nice to meetya, mister! Heard you killed a lot of Rotspawn yesterday." The first contender was a loud-mouthed redhead by the name of Aobaru, whose Element of Vigorflame could increase the strength of an person or object up to a set point, after which it caused them to explode. He was notable for his iron control over the Element, capable of inducing explosions seemingly without the intermediate step of strengthening his foes.
Hunger carefully set aside the Forebear's Blade and walked to the center of their makeshift arena. Aobaru offered him a fist bump which he neglected to return, but gave the boy a nod of acknowledgement.
"Er... okay! Well, you've got a buffing-type Element like me, right? I've got some tips and tricks I could show ya."
"That's right."
"Hm... okay, so if yours is anything like mine, it helps anyone that touches it, which is the main problem. You've got enemies in melee that would love to steal your buffs and equalize."
"Exactly."
"I've got a couple ways around that... but telling you would be boring. Best if I just show ya."
Hunger smirked. "Be my guest."
They retreated to opposite sides of the arena, and the first spar began. Aobaru immediately launched a pillar of Vigorflame at the ground, which bounced up and struck his body: the quantity of Element summoned was no less, but by focusing it into a vertical emission, enemies outside touch range would fail to benefit. Clever.
Hunger immediately tried the same, even as Aobaru rushed him. The boy was a surprisingly capable warrior but no match for Hunger's speed. He dodged the child's strikes, blasts, and grapple attempts easily as he tried to figure out how to make the pillar technique work. His first attempt had merely sent Edeldross into the ground, hurling himself skyward. Subsequent attempts spilled out into an explosive dome, nothing like the precisely controlled column of energy that Aobaru had manifested.
He frowned. Perhaps the warm-up spars were a mistake. The stakes were so low his Ring was unsatisfied. No power to be gained from such conflicts.
He fell to a hundredth of his normal speed and finally the boy caught up. They briefly exchanged blows and Hunger allowed the boy to prevail, hopeful it would entice more tricks out of him when they fought the second time.
"Well done. I concede."
The boy looked shocked for a moment before an overjoyed expression came across his features. "Holy shit, I won! I beat the Reckoner!"
"The Reckoner?"
"Yeah, the Reckoner of Rotspawn! It's what we've been calling you, Lord Hunger."
With mental reflexes capable of tracing a bullet in mid-flight, Hunger stopped himself from cringing. This... was a good thing. Notoriety could only improve his Astral Rank when he accomplished substantial feats, though he suspected his fight against the lesser Rotspawn did not qualify. "I see. An interesting name."
"Wo-hoo! Go Lord Reckoner!" Gisena called from the sidelines. From somewhere she'd produced white cloths that she and Letrizia had tied as headbands. His name was written on them in bold red ink. "Good match, have a drink?"
He rolled his eyes and took the proffered water. "It was a tough match, but I'm confident I can come back in the second round."
Aobaru was walking boastfully among his compatriots, fielding them questions with indifferent aplomb. "No big deal, I'm sure he was holding back like, massively..."
"Why'd you throw the match?" Letrizia pouted. "I had good money riding on you, Lord Reckoner!"
"Oh yeah? Is it for the warm-up or the fight itself?'
"Both!" She grumbled.
"I see. Then, if you don't want to lose the rest, I suggest you drop both parts of that title when addressing me in the future."
"H-hmph! Whatever you want. 'S not like I think it's cool or anything..."
"Good." He smiled, took another sip of water and returned to the field.
Before Aobaru returned, Hunger spent a long moment in contemplation. The Ring would disqualify any contest that was insufficiently challenging or lacked real stakes. In that event, he couldn't use his full power, or even one-tenth: the greater his chance of actually losing, the more quickly he would learn. One-fiftieth power ought to give him an edge while still retaining that essential element of risk. If he miscalibrated, so be it. Even this method would likely fail if he repeated it too many times against a given opponent. Luckily there was quite a variety here.
Aobaru walked back from the stands, his cocksure swagger replaced by serious determination. "Alright, let's do this. I've got a month's worth of part-time wages on the line, so don't expect me to go as easy as I did previous."
Hunger nodded, taking a low stance. As Letrizia's arm fell to indicate the match's beginning, Hunger immediately sprang forwards, catching his foe in a grapple before he could fire anything. He then emitted a thunderous blast of edeldross, saturating them both; with his speed and strength much the superior of his enemy's, the absolute difference in parameters merely grew. If Aobaru attempted to summon any of his own Element, Hunger could defeat him with a submission lock fairly trivially. His Ring flared slightly, a steady trickle of power which he fed into his mantle, willing it to increase his proficiency with Edeldross.
Before Aobaru could tap out, Hunger released him and withdrew to the edge of the arena. That had worked well, but it was a tactic to be kept in pocket against a physically inferior opponent. For general use he needed to master the pillar technique.
"That... was fast..." Aobaru said shakily. "Hm, guess you could beat me at any time, so my only chance is to get a great bonus. Alright, well, I think I see the problem in your technique."
"Oh?" Hunger waited patiently.
"Yeah. Looks like you have a force-based Element. Usually those can be solidified into a semi-inert state. While inert, they'll lose most of their unique properties and act as a generic solid. What you really want to do is form a lip of solidified Element at the bottom and sides of your blast. That way it'll bounce off the earth and hit you instead of seeping in or spreading everywhere. Why don't you give it a shot?"
"This isn't fair, you're getting all the instruction bonuses yourself!" Another boy heckled from the sidelines.
Aobaru made what appeared to be a rude gesture in response.
"I learn best under pressure. Take me out while I'm attempting it."
"Are you sure? I mean, that's-"
"Yes, and don't hold back. Otherwise it won't work as well."
Aobaru leapt forward, streams of fire launching him at radically higher speed. Hunger barely ducked out of the way, forming a frantic shield of edeldross that deflected the boy. Ah. The solidified edeldross that he used to make shields. That was what the kid was talking about. If he produced a thin amount to contain the pure Edeldross, the "pillar" technique was much simpler.
He fired downwards again and was gratified to feel a nearly-vertical column of his Element surrounding him.
"You've got it. Sheesh, that was fast," Aobaru panted, 'spent' after going all-out. Hunger raised an eyebrow. The kid was a good actor, but had a ways to go before he could fool Hunger. "Alright, the next level is density control. The pillar technique's good if you want to fire off a blast to buff one of your companions, but for solo buffing you really need to master density. Almost all buffing Elements have greater effects at higher density, so if you can compress an orb of it and hold it in your chest, you should see some noticeably improved effects. The boost will be strongest wherever you hold the orb, but should radiate out to the rest of your body."
"How do I compress it in the first place?" He frowned.
"Well, the best way is to just summon it compressed. Takes a few tries but that's the safest to avoid enemy-buffing. You have to summon lots of Element at one time, right?" He called forth a torrent of flame. "But there's nothing saying you can't summon a lot of Element in one space, as long as your fundamental control's good enough."
Aobaru gestured with his open palm, summoned an orb of searing brilliance. "Like this!"
He swiftly launched the orb at Hunger, following up with a spirited charge. Hunger ducked the orb but felt a line of boils form along the exposed side, the flesh bubbling up as if on the verge of eruption. Terrifying.
He attempted to do as his opponent had done, summoning an orb of concentrated edeldross. Though his sphere was much larger than his enemy's palm-sized orb, still it ended up considerably smaller than the tank-sized blasts he normally produced. Tucking it into his body, it melted seamlessly into his chest; a steady, glowing warmth that vivified and exalted every fiber of his being.
Firing wide columns of Edeldross to deflect his opponent's attacks, Hunger charged in again, only to be forced back as Aobaru finally stopped holding back. The boy produced a broad, deep wall of livid fire, crackling golden tongues stretching full to sky. Aobaru emerged from the wall similarly coated in flame, a set of densely focused orbs whirling about his head. One by one they flew at Hunger, who was forced to endure two blows to the leg and one to the torso, flesh rupturing raggedly as it exploded.
Shocked at the gruesome display, Aobaru faltered a moment, and Hunger sent him to earth with a quick chop to the back of the neck. He placed his palm gently but menacingly upon the boy's head. "Do you yield?"
"Uh, yeah, I yield. Holy crap that was hardcore. Do you just like, not feel pain?"
With the spar over, his other magics were unsealed. Hunger quickly repaired his wounds. "I do, but you learn to ignore that in combat. Perhaps my sense of pain has dulled over time."
"Jeez. As expected of the Reckoner, I guess. You're pretty cool for an old guy!"
"..."
Aobaru got up. "Anyway, there's one stage of enhancement beyond even density, but I haven't mastered it yet. We call it suffusion. You create a highly-dense construct of your Element in the exact shape of your body, and move it exactly as your body moves. That gives the heaviest augmentation of all, even better than just saturating yourself with a pillar of highly-dense Element, but it's really hard and requires continuous maintenance. The orb method is a lot stabler."
Interesting. He wondered why that was. Intuitively, a 'highly-dense pillar' ought to offer the greatest exposure possible to one's Element. Perhaps it was psychokinetic in nature, some aspect of the concentration itself focusing the Element's effect? "Good to know. Thanks."
"Hey, don't thank me. Just pay me well! I gotta make up for this lost lunch money." Aobaru grinned cheekily and handed over a pitiful sum.
"YEAH!!" Letrizia cheered wildly. She fired off a column of Pressure into the air. "I'm the best! I love gambling!!"
After that came a succession of considerably less impressive 'High' Elementalists, though Hunger's self-imposed restrictions nearly caught him out from time to time. Nonetheless by the end of the day he had gained an impressive competence in Edeldross manipulation without having lost a single (real) bout. Happily he paid out the students' bonuses, and was just about to leave when one final student arrived at the grounds.
She was a girl of about Letrizia's age, pretty and slender but not as tall as the Armament pilot, with eyes of dark violet in a similarly dark outfit. In her left hand she carried a slightly curved sword in a scabbard of polished wood. Her dark hair was drawn up in a ponytail spill of ink, stark contrast to her unhealthily pale skin. Her stance was light, alert; a fighter of professional skill, despite her nervous demeanor.
"Hope... I am not... too late," the girl said shakily, as Letrizia came over to greet the newcomer.
"Aeira!" Letrizia said happily. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it. Did your parents give you permission?"
"Ah, yes." Aeira replied. "It took much of the night, and today as well, but they have finally agreed to allow me to become a mercenary!"
She bowed deeply to Hunger, and then to Gisena. "Lord Hunger and Lady Allria, please permit me to travel alongside you! Letrizia has informed me of your mission and I would bring much in the way of novel capabilities. My Element, Shadowcord, dims light and deflects attention, allowing me to cloak you from detection even against automated systems. I am also a capable fighter with the sword, and can defeat most Sovereignty Armors in direct combat."
"Fascinating," Gisena remarked. "The information-theoretic implications of that attention-deflecting ability..."
"Aeira's really strong!" Letrizia gushed. "Maybe not as powerful as you, Hunger, but we could really use her stealth capabilities, and we've got plenty of money left over to pay her! Her family could really use it, and she can definitely take care of herself!"
---
The winners were [X] Ring of Power: Crimson Flare and [X] High Marshall.
[ ] Fine - She can guard Letrizia while you're away, and the outrageous output of every experienced Elementalist means she can even cloak Verschlengorge from detection. Perhaps it'll even work on Astral Beasts? If necessary, she may also be able to take the field against some weaker foes, or support Hunger from a distance with supplemental stealth. [7 Currency units / month]
[ ] Unacceptable - Proficient as she might be, it's nowhere near safe for her to adventure with the likes of you. Hunger is a Progression-type Cursebearer, Gisena is a (soon to be) High Sorceress with an extremely powerful and broad anti-supernatural defense, and Letrizia is a superweapon pilot. There's no room for an ordinary High Elementalist among your ranks, no matter how talented. [+.8 Arete, +1 pick to upcoming Experience]
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As you will likely be facing the High Marshall soon, you may wish to pre-buy Stances, ensuring availability for the entire encounter. He outranks you significantly and has a powerful Soul Evocation. An abundance of caution would not be remiss here; Rank gaps of such size are dangerous to contest directly.
Tactics can also help, of course, but his Rank makes him difficult to deceive. You have 18.7 Arete with 1 put towards Crimson Flare.
[ ] Maximum Safety - Buy Hero-Defeating Stance and Guile-Defeating Stance (below).
*Combines high Charisma with a Rank nullification effect, vastly reducing the effectiveness of his greater Rank upon yours. Safest social option.
*Hero-Defeating Stance feeds into Foe-Defeating Stance, whereas Guile-Defeating Stance feeds into All-Defeating Stance. Not very synergistic in the long run.
*Expensive, but minimizes death %.
[ ] Somewhat Safe - Buy Guile-Defeating Stance and World-Defeating Stance (below)
*Both feed into All-Defeating Stance, so this is considerably more efficient than the above at the cost of reduced safety.
*You can only have two Stances active, so it won't make sense to buy Magic-Defeating Stance with this arrangement until you can afford All-Defeating Stance or have 6 Rank...
*Still expensive.
[ ] Kinda Safe - Buy Hero-Defeating Stance.
*It's not really that safe, but way better than Maximal Greed.
*Hero-Defeating Stance is almost always pretty good.
[ ] Maximal Greed - Don't buy anything.
*You will probably get rekt. He's 2.2 Ranks higher than you, literally everything you do will experience massive pushback from the universe itself.
*However, getting rekt does not mean you will necessarily die. You might still be able to retreat and limp away.
Guile-Defeating Stance - 7 Arete
A martial stance of the Forebear. Where comes the craven, who by shadowy pacts, scheming and circumstance seeks to undermine the wielder's unquestionable authority, they will find that age and treachery have already usurped that domain, and were lying in wait all the while. There can be no power behind the throne but he that sits the throne itself, if that sovereign is wise enough to adopt this stance of the Forebear. A pre-requisite for All-Defeating Stance.
++Wits, ++Wisdom, ++Charisma.
+2 Rank, ++++++++Manipulation for purposes of detecting, subverting, and overcoming hidden schemes, illusions, and deceptions. Apply the Power of Ruin against such efforts if hostile to the wielder. Be it a rapier feint or the meticulously calculated plot of eons, all forms of mistruth are laid bare before the Forebear's gaze.
World-Defeating Stance - 7 Arete
A martial stance of the Forebear. Forces natural and premeditated; forces unnatural and obscene - it matters not to the cause of the Forebear, whose march is steady and inevitable, carrying all before it. A billion realms brought to heel and countless more razed to ash, systems of the world in kaleidoscopic arrangement and all bent to his will. Meaningless as escape may be, more futile still is dissent: an enemy is just a future subject, and though they may forget the face of their fathers, the Forebear's visage is burned indelibly into their spirits.
If the user possesses all of the other [Type]-Defeating Stances, upgrades into All-Defeating Stance.
+.2 Rank, ++Luck, ++Intelligence, ++Protection
++++++Protection further against environmental harms, including from incompatible or hostile physics and metaphysics.
*Shelters wielder's powers from suppression or negation, even that resulting from a lack of magic or magical structures within the world.
*5x Power of Ruin against non-supernatural foes or phenomena beyond a human's ability to defeat.
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Talace
It must be raining somewhere else!
(whoops I ended up posting right after Rihaku)
[ ] Fumbleborn - Some, like the Wolfborn of Rioja are born with incredible strength. Others, like the Ravenborn of Ballaugh are born with mental acuity and swiftness of wit. You are born with a preternatural predilection, nay, a talent for fumbling. Trip over untied shoelaces, dodge an oncoming crossbow bolt. Say something rude on accident, make a companion for life. Your fumbles are greatness enshrouded, inconsequential and worldshaking at the same time.
*Your start out as a fumbler of cataclysmic potential. You will grow to become a legend, given time.
*You have an alotted 10 Fumbles per day. Mechanically, the outcome of a Fumble is represented by a tremendous boost on the rolltable when a stat check or a random encounter roll is failed.
*Fumbles also act as an autonomic defense system, automatically expending themselves in order to save your life. In these scenarios, you may still take minor injuries as a consequence of narrowly escaping with your life.
*Be careful not to get too skilled at something-- in many cases, minorly passing a skill check can have worse outcomes than harshly failing it! Be careful as well not to expend your Fumbles before the day is over-- a skilled opponent will take advantage of your powerless and defenseless state.
*Hail the Fumbleborn, lord of the lost and king of the found.
- Location
- Pindorama
Damn it; did negotiations just fail outright!? If we generate the 5.3 Arete, can we buy Crimson Flare instead?
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Competance - Mastery itself.
Command over the domain of skill itself. What does humanity strive for, in the end, if not mastery of their own domain, the exaltation of their own skill? The child, who stumbles walking, who comes to a run eventually; The warrior, from a fumbling swordsman to a hero of legend.
* The domain of 'skill' is absurd and massive.
* Sample Effects: Elevate a neophyte to preternatural skill or reduce an assassin of legend to a fumbling fool. Induce miscasts in enemy spellcasters and they make newbie mistakes. The effects are as varied as they are hilarious. At high levels, cause chaos as enemies critically fumble and stab each other or themselves by accident, or as spells are targeted at the wrong person.
* Somewhat context dependent power. Extreme utility effects if one can find appropriate magical allies - Trivialize the ease of grand rituals or the creation of legendary artifacts, etc, etc.
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/just woke up
5.5 Arete with Unacceptable - a strain, but absolutely possible. Not even an omake-storm grade goal, although above that of a typical "good day" 4 arete mark.
24 Arete for the Flare.
5.5 Arete with Unacceptable - a strain, but absolutely possible. Not even an omake-storm grade goal, although above that of a typical "good day" 4 arete mark.
- Location
- US
Hm. It seems like we've probably locked ourselves into the three Sword EFB path if we're to hope to survive, since we're going to have to invest a significant amount of Arete this turn on Stances, which'll also give a ton of progress towards All-Defeating Stance.
We could go Hero Defeating Stance by itself, though. That's definitely viable, though risky. If we can play that right, we wouldn't be nearly as locked in towards getting an EFB Stance.
Maximal Greed, ofc, would just be foolish. Unless, ofc, we earn 5.3 Arete before the next update and flash-buy Crimson Flare. Not impossible, but really risky.
We could go Hero Defeating Stance by itself, though. That's definitely viable, though risky. If we can play that right, we wouldn't be nearly as locked in towards getting an EFB Stance.
Maximal Greed, ofc, would just be foolish. Unless, ofc, we earn 5.3 Arete before the next update and flash-buy Crimson Flare. Not impossible, but really risky.
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Rihaku
The Internet
Despite the inefficiency, you may want to approval vote for both Maximum Greed and whichever of the non-Maximum Greed options you prefer. Then Hunger can snap buy Crimson Flare (note: this is still less safe than Maximum Safety) if you actually reach 24 Arete before the update. Since this could turn on something as simple as "I update a few hours earlier," I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to yolo flash buy Crimson Flare as your only plan.
Thanatanos
PvP Lover, Assasin Player
[X] Maximum Safety
[X] Unacceptable
[X] Unacceptable
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
[x]Fine
[x]Maximum Safety
[x]Kinda Safe
[x]Maximum Safety
[x]Kinda Safe
- Location
- US
[X] Unacceptable
[X] Maximal Greed
As much as I'd like to vote Fine, rushing for Crimson Flare makes this mandatory.
[X] Maximal Greed
As much as I'd like to vote Fine, rushing for Crimson Flare makes this mandatory.
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ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Well, it looks like Selune was the SAVE option all along. Hope everyone learned from this experience.
Honestly, if I was sure we'd survive full greed I'd say we just take the loss and walk away. However, we haven't been given any death percentages, which makes gauging the risks of full greed difficult.
I think going Hero-defeating stance is the play here. I don't want to spend 14 Arete on stances, and with Hero-defeating we should be able to survive even if we don't win.
Honestly, if I was sure we'd survive full greed I'd say we just take the loss and walk away. However, we haven't been given any death percentages, which makes gauging the risks of full greed difficult.
I think going Hero-defeating stance is the play here. I don't want to spend 14 Arete on stances, and with Hero-defeating we should be able to survive even if we don't win.
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Can't help but feel that my support of Not Dying has allowed Others to maneuver the thread to the brink of abandoning all magic in favor of the Tripartite Imperial Sword.
I fear that I may be on the cusp of a decision to renounce my membership in Not Dying and insteadmindlessly vote for el STATS
I fear that I may be on the cusp of a decision to renounce my membership in Not Dying and instead
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
Nice, we get Arete and a pick for rejecting Aeira? I definitely wouldn't have expected that. I think she's absolutely acceptable, but as it turns out I'm a bit mercenary myself.
[X] Unacceptable
Stances are cool enough to sooth the pain of maybe having to grab them, at least, but I gotta think more on how crazy I want to be here. More importantly,
[X] Unacceptable
Stances are cool enough to sooth the pain of maybe having to grab them, at least, but I gotta think more on how crazy I want to be here. More importantly,
what the fuck? Too tired to reactionpost right now, but I'm definitely feeling a reaction to this. Forebear has no chill.
Rihaku
The Internet
The most likely outcome of Maximal Safety is that you convince him to let you into the Inner Ring. While it's not efficient for your EFB-equivalent plans, Hero-Defeating Stance is definitely still good in many situations and Guile-Defeating Stance improves your social defense considerably. All the other options have a significant chance of fighting him, with all that entails.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Flashbuying Crimson Flare would be the best play here, but would also require a significant amount of Arete generation. As in "halfway to Omakestorm" levels of Arete.
I'd be willing to contribute some... But I'm feeling really not-enthused right now. It feels like the High Marshal voters got us into this mess, and should be the ones to get us out of it.
Well, there was a magic duel this update, I can likely get a good reaction post from that. Tomorrow anyway, it's far to late tonight to be spending 1+ hours writing stuff. I have no idea how Rihaku gets updates out so fast when I take more then an hour to throw out a reaction, which is by definition easier then original content.
I'd be willing to contribute some... But I'm feeling really not-enthused right now. It feels like the High Marshal voters got us into this mess, and should be the ones to get us out of it.
Well, there was a magic duel this update, I can likely get a good reaction post from that. Tomorrow anyway, it's far to late tonight to be spending 1+ hours writing stuff. I have no idea how Rihaku gets updates out so fast when I take more then an hour to throw out a reaction, which is by definition easier then original content.
[X] Unacceptable
[X] Maximal Greed
I vow to write 5k words for Arete today. The Ring beckons gentlemen. I voted for the High Marshal and it is partially my duty to get us out alive.
[X] Maximal Greed
I vow to write 5k words for Arete today. The Ring beckons gentlemen. I voted for the High Marshal and it is partially my duty to get us out alive.
Message received and acknowledged brother.
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Talace
It must be raining somewhere else!
I'll own up to my mistake, probably should have voted for Letrizia's cousin! Welp, time to start grinding reactions and imageposts like no tomorrow.
Dark Abstraction
Infrequent Participant
- Location
- United States
For all the people that argued against Shadowlord by saying "We just voted for this character and she won't even show up" or "We can get it later since we're hiring her", I would like to note that if you vote Unacceptable now you will be hypocrites, since you'll be disregarding your own argument because it's convenient to you not to stand by them anymore. Just wanted to mention it.
#SaltyForever
#SaltyForever
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LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
Of course she did.
Apparently Zea was Homura all along!
I love how much Hunger hates it.
Gisena lives and breathes anime without even trying apparently. Hunger's sarcasm game is also on point.
Aobaru's right this is pretty hardcore.
Ouch, Hunger's only like 28 you know!
Is this what Silver of Evening would have given us?
Looks like we need to stage an intervention.
[X] Unacceptable
[X] Maximal Greed
I don't want to take someone pretending to be a mercenary with us. She'll just get killed and she uses wordcount that could have been spent on Gisena instead!
The stances are cool but I'd prefer to grab an EFB now that we're at 18 arete so lets see how Maximal Greed goes. We're not supposed to be fighting the cool old guy anyway.