Chương 204: Mental Attributes

In the afternoon, while I was still stinging from the morning training session—or beating session, more like—we gathered back with our original training groups. We returned to our squads, and our lieutenants brought us up to the castle's outer wall.

"Among your other second phase tasks is enhancement of your mental attributes," Lieutenant Owl said.

"First is Perception. We must train your physical senses, and we have planned a conditioning activity. But the Drillmaster wants you to understand the benchmarks that we're aiming for. You should be able to see across these fields and read the sign planted on the rise of the first hill." I narrowed my eyes, looking where Owl was pointing. Other Dupes were whispering, "I can't see anything…" or "Is it that speck?" I kept my lips sealed and watched as closely as I could.

Finally, I picked up a rectangular wooden shape pinned up on a board. Someone had painted on it in white letters, but I couldn't read them. They were only a white blur. I kept that to myself until Anchor also said, "You see the sign, Sarge?"

"I do."

"Any idea what it says?"

"I can't get a single letter," I said with a shake of my head.

"I can pick out a few," Anchor replied.

"But only a few." After a few more seconds, Owl spoke again, drawing our attention back to him.

"Now, you all see? Only a select few of you could pick out the sign. Even fewer could see white smears on it—in fact, only two of you. When you reach a hundred points of Perception, you should be able to see those letters and tell me what it says." I gulped. A hundred points? What could we actually do to force our Presence to increase so quickly?

"We will adjust your diet," Owl continued.

"We will supplement your meals with Infused Shepherd Beans, at a much higher rate than we are currently providing. Of course, that alone won't be enough. In order for the Shepherd Beans to work, we must first damage your senses, then rebuild them." Owl swept his arm out toward the fields beyond.

"To train your focus, you will venture into the fields and face the high winds once more. There, you will hunt for Archerbane snakes."

"It comes from snakes…?" I breathed.

"Yes, Sir Levi, it does," Owl replied, irritation in his voice.

"And you had us training in those fields for weeks?" Yesman asked.

"Without warning us about those snakes?"

"They are harmless if they aren't stressed," Owl answered.

"And they typically spend most of their days hiding. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. However, you will find that they are quite toxic if you pick them up. The moment you catch one, they will bite you. There's nothing to fear—your body will handle the toxin.

"Your Vitality is high enough to survive it with ease, now, and the damage will seem minimal. Your senses…well, those will suffer more. It will break down some of your nerves. Hence the Shepherd Beans, whose area of expertise is specifically in providing materials to heal such sensory damage, and building them back stronger than ever before. With this method, all of your senses will improve as one.

"As for your Focus, hunting for the snakes will require absolute dedication. There's no way to force your Focus to improve, except by concentrating directly on something. The Shepherd Beans will help it improve, of course, but it won't increase as quickly as the other stats. What we can do is burden you with even more riftrocks, putting even more strain on your Focus and providing the strain necessary to push it higher." After that, we jogged out into the fields as a unit.

I hunted through the grass, sweeping my foot side to side, pushing aside the golden stalks and hunting for any sign of the snakes.

"What do they look like?" I asked as I searched.

"That's half the battle," Owl said.

"And if I told you, that would be cheating." I exhaled sharply, then kept pushing into the whipping wind as I examined the ground. Purposely getting bitten by a snake? Did I actually have the willpower to pull that off? Or would I just end up throwing the snake away? I was going to be the first to find out, though. I promised myself that. I had higher Focus than everyone else, and surely that had to count for something. I hadn't done all that work, invested that much in the stat, for it to end up being meaningless.

With my eyes narrowed, I locked my vision onto a swath of ground directly ahead. Although it was hard to focus on large areas, that was what the stat helped with. I could extend mental energy to watch more than just one point. I could watch all of it with the same intensity. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Finally, after about twenty minutes of searching, something rippled in the corner of my vision. It was nearly invisible.

The snake had brown scales, and it was no thicker than my thumb. It had a mottled pattern, and it would've blended perfectly with the under-layer of peaty soil if not for the rock it crossed. I hesitated for a second, then lunged toward it, but it was already slithering away. My fingers didn't even brush the tip of its tail. I cursed under my breath, then shook my hand out. How hard was this going to be? Was it even possible— No, put the doubts away. I couldn't give up after failing once.

I crept in the direction the snake had travelled, staying as stealthy and as silent as I possibly could, until finally, I caught up with the snake. It coiled itself around a stalk of grass, hugging it. I lunged for it, fingers outstretched, then snatched it up. It writhed, trying to escape my grasp. Wrapping itself around backward, it locked eyes with me, yellow slits staring ominously at my arm. It took all my self control not to fling the snake away yet. Its head snapped down, and it sank its fangs into my arm.

I hissed at the swell of pain. Almost instantly, my skin numbed in the area the snake bit. I held on, trying to let as much of the Archerbane venom flow into my body, before I finally threw the snake away. I considered saving it for the rest of my squad, but I didn't have nearly enough control, and that would defeat the point of the exercise as well.

"Good work, Levi," Owl said.

"Now, as long as you can keep moving, you will need to load up on as much venom as you can." I groaned. Already, my vision was getting blurry. The venom was targeting my senses specifically. My ears were ringing, and I couldn't even taste the peat in the air. Oh well. I knew I could fix it. Infused food would help repair the damage, as long as I didn't overdo it. This was a higher dose than I'd ever given myself a few months ago, with what Abacus had acquired for us. I could take it now, though.

The damage wasn't so severe that it was impossible for the infused food to fix. I wouldn't have to turn to healing potions. So I kept searching. With everything hazy, it was difficult to see where I was going, and it forced my Focus to work twice as hard to find more snakes. ~ ~ ~ That evening, after supper, my senses recovered slightly. Everything inside the castle was blurry, and we had to yell to hear each other speaking, but it was steadily recovering.

I walked a lap around the castle's outside wall, letting the infused food (and the additional Shepherd Beans) settle, until I could hear someone speaking with a normal voice again. That was good enough. I couldn't delay any longer. I had to meet Arnulf. Once everyone had settled down and went about their evening tasks, I approached the castle's outer gate. A few guards patrolled the top of the wall, but none were posted on the ground.

Castle Urcia still enjoyed the relative safety created by the shadow of the 294th, and we could still leave the gate open at night. I checked the alcoves near the gate. Usually, in the days before Vaelheall Week, we would've seen some of the druids from important families hanging out around here, but no more. They hadn't all dropped out, but the stress of that experience seemed to have spurred them into action. So I was all alone.

Finally, when I passed the alcove closest to the gate, a voice whispered, "Step inside, but do not come too close." I stopped, glanced into the alcove, then tensed the muscles in my forearms, preparing to enter a fighting stance.

"Arnulf?" I asked.

"Correct," the voice replied. I strained my eyes in the darkness. It was easy enough to see, even though it was a little dim. A man in black wool cloak, with a crescent-shaped penannular brooch holding it in place. I couldn't make out any armour below, and though I should have been able to make out his face, there was something making it blurry and dim, fighting against my Perception to obscure the man's face. The same went for his voice. Something hid it, scrambling the pitch.

It was masculine, but that was about all I could tell. And it wasn't just the after-effects of the venom I'd injected earlier in the day.

"Why can't I see your face?" I whispered.

"My Princess did tell you was a former Subtle Man, no?" Arnulf sighed.

"It's safer that way. If I do not select you, then I will maintain my safety within the Witenagemot. I can't have a boy like you running around, telling everyone who I am, can I? Did you think my methods of influencing the council were…face-to-face meetings with its members?"

"So Arnulf isn't your actual name?" I tried my best to guard my memories, using the techniques Lord Ceonwin had taught me to protect myself from Frythlid. If he was a Subtle Man, then I couldn't have him just spying on me like that before I trusted him.

"It is not." I sighed.

"Fine, then. But won't you face retribution after the plan goes through?"

"That is why I must know if you're ready. Once you become an Ealdorman, there will be no going back."

"What do I have to prove to show you I'm ready?" He inhaled slowly.

"You must land a hit on Moonhand."

"Just one hit?"

"Quite a feat, still, for a Silver.

"How strong is he?"

"Emerald." Arnulf paused, drinking in the silence. He must've been enjoying this—assigning me a near impossible task. Land a hit on an Emerald-tier elf, one who'd lived at least a thousand years.

"I will be watching."

"Is that…it?" The man laughed.

"Certainly not, Sir Levi. I will speak with you every week, but not here. You will tell me your plans, and I will judge if you are fit for our plans spiritually as well as physically. But not here. Next week, at the same time, you will meet me on the opposite side of the castle. Find me behind the castle cooper's shed."

"Will do."

"Will do, sir," Arnulf corrected.

"Sorry. Of course you're a noble. Of course."

"This is not a good start."

"I'll prove to you I'm ready," I promised.

"You'll see."