Chương 51

The Journey Begins"One of the fundamentals of mastering any weapon or fighting style is balance," said Commander Osian, "Let's start with foot placement. If your feet are too close together–" He suddenly launched himself at me, crashing shoulder-first into my chest. And bounced off. He stumbled several steps, trying to regain his balance, then went down in a clatter of metal and wounded pride. Rising to his feet, he cleared his throat and attempted to brush the grass and mud off his otherwise pristine armour.

"That didn't quite end up being the teaching point I intended it to be," he said. If a skeleton's face was capable of turning red, I was fairly certain he'd have resembled a tomato in that moment.

"However, the point still stands. If your feet are too close together, your balance will suffer. In a fight against an opponent with a similar level of strength, you'd have been the one crashing to the ground." He spent the next hour giving me pointers on my stance and how to move without sacrificing balance. This involved him smacking the flat of his sword against my legs to suggest small adjustments.

I wasn't entirely convinced the force he used was necessary, which made me suspect he might have been a little salty about the whole shoulder barge incident. Putting the questions of his professionalism aside, the results were impressive considering the timeframe. Now, I don't claim to possess any real knowledge of combat, but I was fairly certain that back when sword fighting had been a thing on Earth, it wasn't exactly common for people to use two swords.

I supposed – aside from the extra weight – it was due to how unwieldy it was trying to move two weapons independently of each other. I had one huge advantage over those historical warriors: the stat system. The combination of my strength and agility made me an absolute physical monster. As soon as Osian pointed something out or corrected an issue in my form, it just seemed to click into place – almost as if my body was saying, duhhh.

By the time the hour was over, I could move fluidly, capable of shifting my balance and repositioning my weight with barely a thought. At the end of the session, we did a little sparring. It's fair to say my mind was blown at how much difference the hour had made. Don't get me wrong – Osian still made me look like an absolute chump – but compared to how I'd have done at the start? It wasn't half bad.

I knew that if I'd really wanted to win, I could have just overwhelmed him with pure strength, but that would've been cheating. I wasn't training so I could hack the shit out of people much weaker than me. I was training for the moment we came up against someone on a similar level. Considering we'd likely be confronting Lokta'Inif in the near future, it seemed like a good idea. When the moment came, I'd be ready. Not just to defeat her in combat, but to look like an absolute badass while doing it.

As we made our way back to camp, I felt pretty good about the results of my first lesson in Swordfighting 101 with Professor Osian. I didn't feel quite as much of a phony for walking around with swords hanging from my belt. Daylight was fading fast, the sun having slipped below the horizon. Kaelis and Voklum had just returned from the forest, each with an armful of wood, and were now building a fire.

Allaria had stayed behind and was currently deep in conversation with Rel, who'd slipped into lecture mode after she vaguely suggested she might be interested in learning magic at some point. Rel had apparently interpreted 'at some point' to mean that very moment. I peered over Allaria's shoulder to see that she was in the process of drawing a basic rune. The floor around her feet was littered with what I assumed were her first several failed attempts.

"You're very lucky to be learning magic in the Trial rather than out in the wider galaxy," Rel told her.

"The stat system and mana-rich environment make it a far less gruelling experience."

"Mana is a thing?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Of course," said Rel, turning to face me. He and Allaria were sitting on the tree trunk I'd fashioned into a makeshift bench. When he gestured for me to sit beside him, I immediately regretted opening my mouth. I was now a member of his class.

"Mana is the fuel of magic. Without it, it's impossible to cast spells." Stolen novel; please report.

"Does every planet have magic?" I asked. I figured if I kept him distracted, he wouldn't try to get me to draw a rune. It may shock you to learn that I'm not much of an artist. I thought back to Earth, where I was fairly certain magic wasn't a thing. Well, at least not outside of fiction and fantasy. Then again, after everything I'd seen since arriving in the Trial Zone, I was starting to wonder if I might've been wrong – especially after meeting Zeus.

Perhaps there really were secret magical societies and schools for witchcraft and wizardry… and I'd just never received an invite. The assholes.

"No," replied Rel.

"Some planets are what are referred to as mana deserts. Mana is either non-existent or incredibly scarce, which means the inhabitants have little chance of ever discovering the arcane. Other planets, such as this one, have an abundance of it. That's what makes it an ideal place for the Trial."

"Mana deserts…" said Allaria.

"What would happen if a mage travelled to one of those planets? Would they still be able to perform magic?"

"They'd still be able to cast spells, but they'd be limited by their internal mana reserves. Mana has two sources. The first is the ambient mana in the environment – this is what I was referring to when I said the Trial Zone is mana rich. The second source is a mage's mana well. This is an internal reservoir of power that can be expanded over time. In Galaxy Showdown, its size is linked directly to a Trialist's intelligence level."

"I've never seen you run out of mana. Is that because of how much ambient mana there is here?" I asked.

"Partially, but there's a little more to it than that. Magic, like anything else, can be wielded with varying levels of efficiency. You can use it like a sledgehammer, with wild, powerful swings that would exhaust you very quickly. Or you can use it more like a scalpel – small, efficient, and, when used in the right way, equally lethal."

"Oh, so you're basically the magical equivalent of a surgeon," I said.

"I guess Doctor Rel isn't entirely inaccurate then." Rel shrugged.

"Doctor Rel. Professor Rel. You may use whichever you prefer. You know me – I'm not really one to worry about things like titles." I stared at him. Hard. Was he fucking with me, or was he actually that oblivious? He returned my stare, his face revealing nothing.

"So… Professor Rel," I said, "how do you know all of this? Did Indagore teach you, or have you been studying?"

"I… well… isn't…" For a brief moment, Rel looked troubled, and then his typical, mildly arrogant demeanour reasserted itself.

"I'm sure that's part of it. But honestly? It's all pretty obvious when you think about it." We clearly had different definitions of what constituted "pretty obvious". * Stonehaven was a few weeks' walk from Oakreach. If we'd wanted to, we could've run the whole way, reducing the journey to less than a day. That was at a pace Allaria, Kaelis and Voklum would've been able to maintain. If I made the journey on my own?

Well, I'd never really tested the limits of my speed or stamina, but I imagined it would be measured in minutes rather than hours. I veto'd that option immediately. Where was the fun in sprinting there and missing every opportunity to explore? Since I'd arrived in the Trial Zone, my entire experience had essentially been limited to a log cabin, a small area of the forest around it, and Oakreach. I wanted to see what the Trial Zone had to offer. There was another reason I was so eager to walk.

When Allaria had made the trip from Stonehaven to Oakreach, she said the system had offered her a number of quests along the way. Apparently, there were two kinds of quests. The first kind were those regulated by the system. The quests from the Expedition Centre were a perfect example. The Centre tested Trialists, gave them a rank, and then assigned quests that roughly matched what they could handle. I figured the quests in the Tower of Potential were somewhat regulated too.

If you'd made it to the Floor where the quest was assigned, you'd already proven you weren't completely useless, so they were at least somewhat appropriate. The second kind? These were the quests that occurred randomly out in the world. They were assigned based on proximity rather than difficulty. If a Trialist happened to stumble across one, they'd be offered the quest. The system didn't give a fuck whether it was appropriate or not. These quests were randomly generated and were a one-and-done sort of deal.

Once completed, they disappeared, and there was no repeating them. When Allaria told us about the random world quests, one thought immediately came to mind. Surely unique quests would offer unique rewards? * We rose early the next morning. Well, more accurately, Kaelis, Allaria and Voklum rose early. What I did qualified as little more than a nap. I'd still not settled the debate as to whether it was a benefit of strength or durability, but sleep was more of a luxury than a requirement these days.

An hour was more than enough to have me feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. Rel was much the same, so while the other three slept, we used the time to work on our own little projects. I focused on developing my sword skills. Osian had taught me several basic sequences – simple patterns of movement he said would help ensure I didn't trip over and impale myself on my own swords. I wasn't sure what Rel was working on.

He was being very secretive, venturing a little deeper into the forest after telling me he didn't want to be disturbed. The distant glow of his fire was barely visible through the trees, but occasionally there were bright flashes of light, accompanied by laughter that reminded me uncomfortably of a stereotypical mad scientist. * After a quick breakfast, we returned the tents to our inventories and set off. There'd been a bit of a debate the night before about how we'd travel.

There was a heavily travelled road that ran all the way from Oakreach to Stonehaven. It was by far the most direct route, cutting through fields, farms, and the occasional small village. What fun was that when adventure awaited? On either side of the road, vast forests stretched as far as the eye could see. Concerned that Lokta'Inif's thugs might try to track her down, Allaria had travelled through them on her journey to Oakreach.

Several of the quests she'd been offered were related to the forest, which made me think we'd be less likely to get them if we stuck to the road. We reached a compromise that we'd swap between the two – a few hours in the forest followed by a few hours on the road.