“I got this one at level twenty.”
Fjord held his hand up, looking a little nervous under the weight of Rometo’s gaze. Unable to calm himself at the disrespectful offer of help from Aiden Lacheart, he had requested to postpone the training of the boy’s teammates by a day. Between when the others had left on their different tasks and now, he had seen the one called Fen, brother to Feira, fizzle in and out of existence at least thirteen times. Ever since it had happened, the boy had begun giving him odd looks, looks that implied that he was not very pleased.
Rometo had not asked about it, and no one had explained anything to him.
As for Fjord’s nervousness, Rometo understood it. Students were often nervous among new teachers. Sometimes it was because they wanted to present themselves in a way that gained the acknowledgement of the new teacher, a way that made them come across as worthy to be taught. The second reason was because they did not want to embarrass their previous teacher. After all, everyone knew that if you weren’t good enough, blame would fall on whoever had taught you.
It was only a moment of waiting before something happened. Mana coalesced to the boy’s hand, pulled from the ambient mana around instead of coming from the boy himself. When it was done, it took the shape of a dice with twelve sides and as large as Oncot’s fist which was twice the size of Fjord’s.
“Why is it pink?” Rometo asked, studying the thing.
Fjord shrugged. “It just is?”
Rometo looked across the clearing at Aiden. He stood there with his knight. It was one of those rare occasions where the knight did not have the [Thirteenth] attached to his hip. The look on Aiden’s face told Rometo that the boy had not known about the skill. For a child so knowledgeable and competent, he was so… ignorant of those around him.
Specific people, Rometo corrected himself. It would seem the people he had gathered to himself were not important to him except Valdan and Ted.
Ignoring the thought, he returned his attention to the cube. He narrowed his eyes as he noted something. He looked up from it.
“Fjord,” he said carefully.
“Yes,” Fjord answered nervously.
“How many sides does this die have?”
“Thirteen.”
Rometo counted the sides again. “I count twelve.”
Fjord looked confused. He held the die up to look at it. With Zen and Feira currently the only others present apart from Aiden and Valdan, all eyes followed the die. They were too far to count the sides though.
“I still count thirteen,” Fjord said.
Rometo stood with his back straight and folded his arms over his chest. This was interesting. “Count them for me,” he instructed.
Fjord obeyed, calling out the numbers as he touched each side of the die.
“Eleven, twelve,” he counted, “and thirteen.”
Rometo looked at Aiden and was impressed. The look on the boy’s face proved that he had also caught the same thing Rometo had caught on the count from all the way over there.
“Again,” Rometo instructed, trying to confirm that it was not simply a mistake.
Fjord obeyed. “… Twelve and thirteen.”
“I see.” It was all Rometo had to say.
There was no thirteenth side. Not to him at least. And he guessed there was also no thirteenth side to Aiden Lacheart. Why? Because every time Fjord moved to thirteen, his finger just kind of blurred, as if he had done something significantly to fast for someone with the perception stat beyond level two hundred could see, which was impossible since he was less than level forty.
“What’s it called?” Rometo asked.
“[Loading Dice],” Fjord answered.
“And what does this skill do exactly?”
“Well…” Fjord scratched the back of his neck nervously with his free hand. “When activated it just kind of applies a random roll.”
Rometo’s brow furrowed in displeasure. This was the problem with the [Gambler] class. Most of them stayed away from combat situations because how could you trust a combat situation when your skills seemed to have a mind of their own that had nothing to do with your will.
“Explain,” Rometo said. “It applies random rolls that do what?”
“Well, majorly it just has a jackpot effect,” Fjord explained. “I mean,” he held the dice up and pointed at one of the sides. It had something that looked like a rune that Rometo could not understand on it. “I know what happens if I get this specific rune. Getting it means that I get a temporary boost to strength if my opponent lands three successful attacks on me. If that happens, it also means that his fourth attack will have no damage if it lands, and he will get a damage rebound of times 1.5 of the damage I received from the previous three attacks.”
“And if the fourth attack doesn’t land?”
“Then there’s no rebound on him.”
Rometo rubbed his right upper arm gently. “And what happens if the person doesn’t hit you three successful times?”
Fjord’s eyes dimmed a little, as if he was ashamed or embarrassed. “Then I get a rebound damage of times 0.25 of the damage I was already dealt. And I temporarily lose one strength stat.”
Fucking [Gambler] class, Rometo swore. Shit like this was why there weren’t many people with the [Gambler] class past level fifty in combat professions. All their skills wanted to do was kill their opponent or kill them. It was almost as if someone had to suffer for their activation.
He wasn’t sure if Fjord had even considered it, but there was another downside to the skill itself. For it to work, he needed to first survive three hits from his opponent. Thus, the skill was rendered invalid if he could not. This made it, arguably, a useless skill against monsters.
“How many times have you used it since getting it?” Rometo asked, trying to gauge the boy’s proficiency with the skill.
Fjord held up two fingers. “Two times.”
That was a problem. It meant the boy didn’t even know up to have of what the dice was capable of.
“Skills give inherent knowledge of how they work,” he told Fjord. “With that in mind, your skill is something of a combination of skills. The question here is simple: Did you get knowledge of how the die works or did you get knowledge of how it works and what all the sides do.”
Fjord shook his head, embarrassed again. “Just what the die does.”
“The end?”
Fjord nodded.
Unfortunately for him, Rometo had a feeling that the boy was hiding something. Fortunately for him, Aiden Lacheart had made him an offer that he could not refuse. So, he ignored his suspicions and pushed forward.
“Do you have any idea of how to integrate it into combat comfortably?” he asked.
“I have a few thoughts, but they are going to be difficult to use,” Fjord answered. “The inscriptions on the sides don’t change, so if I’m fighting someone, I probably only get a few tries before they have a rough idea of how it works.”
Rometo blinked at that. That response was as intelligent for the powerful as it was dumb for the weak. Before an opponent would figure out what each side of the die did, they would have to be completely perceptive around him in a combat situation, research before hand what his skills do, and or have him use the die in front of them at least twelve times. Fjord had—for his current level—an unreasonable worry.
Tilting his head curiously to the side, Rometo asked, “And do you think there is anybody that will be able to pull that off in a combat situation?”
The boy shrugged. “Lord Lacheart probably can.”
“You think so?”
“Probably. I think it’s very likely.” Fjord paused. “I say I’d bet on it.”
Knowing Fjord’s other skills, Rometo understood what the boy meant when he said he would bet on it. The phrase carried greater weight coming from him than from an average person.
“Alright then,” Rometo said. “Here’s what we are going to do. You’re going to activate the skill with your eyes closed.”
Fjord held the cube up. It levitated over his open palm. “Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“Alright.” Fjord took a deep preparatory breath and let it out. “Here goes.”
When he activated the die, there was no one that could not guess that he had. The die grew a deep pink, spun with unbelievable speed, stopped abruptly, then pulsed once. At the same time, Fjord got covered with a pink hue of mana that clung to his skin for a fraction of a second before disappearing.
Well, that’s not helpful.
Anyone paying attention would see what had just happened and become very much alert. Unless they were very confident in their abilities.
“Keep your eyes closed,” Rometo instructed, just in case the boy wanted to open them. “What does the side that just activated do?”
“For every two seconds I’m not damaged,” Fjord answered, eyes still closed, “I temporarily gain one stat point to speed.”
Rometo’s eyes almost widened in interest. “And what happens if you are damaged before two seconds?”
“I lose 0.5 stats to speed,” he answered. “But the effect resets. If I get hit all the speed stat I gained disappears. And if I don’t get hit for two seconds all the stat points lost come back.”
“So, the timer resets.” Rometo stroked his jaw. The die was technically twelve skills in one skill. It was as powerful as it was deadly. “Alright, you can open your eyes.”
Fjord opened them slowly, then looked down at the die. “How did you know I’ll be able to do that… sir?”
“Skills are an extension of your body. You don’t have to know to know. When you know how to walk, you don’t need your eyes open to walk. When you know the letter you are writing, you don’t have to keep your eyes open to write it.” He gestured the boy to step to the side for a moment. “Stand there while your cooldown finishes.” Fjord obeyed and Rometo turned his attention to Zen. “Your turn, [Time Walker].”
He was curious to know why Aiden Lacheart, a boy the master of the Order had taken an interest in, thought the boy was interesting enough to make the deal.
Zen came to a stop in front of him. “Sir.”
“How many skills do you have so far?” he asked him.
“Three.”
“What are they?”
“I’ve got—”
“I have,” Rometo corrected. “I am your instructor, not your friend.”
Zen’s gaze darted over to Aiden for a fraction of a second. Rometo saw it, and the boy probably thought nobody did. It was likely a reflex action, a moment where he forgot that he was not supposed to be seeking the young lord’s attention.
“I have,” he started afresh, correcting himself, “three skills. [Borrowed Guest] allows me to summon an instance of myself. [Time Gap], it’s not really the best so I don’t even try to use it.”
Rometo nodded. “Let me be the judge of that. What does it do?”
“It time locks a person’s cool down, delays it for two seconds.”
Rometo took a moment to think about it. He could understand why someone like Zen, a boy from a town no one cared about with no formal training in any form of combat, would find the skill useless. It was a useful skill, just useless to him. It was understandable.
“What’s the last one?” he asked.
“[Time Step],” Zen answered. “It allows me to dispel any damage up to fifty percent of my health received in the last three seconds before activation.”
“Oh,” Rometo blurted before he could stop himself. Curious, he looked back, eyes focusing on Aiden Lacheart.
Did he know? Rometo wondered.
Aiden simply stood next to Valdan with folded arms. He was currently having a quiet conversation with the knight. Was he even paying attention to what was happening here?
Rometo left the question alone, returning his attention to Zen. “None of your skills are useless,” he said, “just specific. In a fight against someone that relies on their skill or with a skill that matters a lot, a two second delay is greater than you think. Anything, and I mean anything, can happen in even a second in a fight. Believe me.”
His eyes moved over to Fjord now. The boy looked like he was ready to get back into the conversation. He was more eager to train than Zen. It made Rometo wonder if Zen was not eager to train with him or if he was simply not as eager as Fjord to train at all.
“Is the skill ready again?” he asked, addressing the [Gambler].
Fjord nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Summon the die.”
Fjord held his hand out and summoned it. Rometo took note of the action. They would have to do something about that. For now, they would focus on simpler things.
“What I want you to do,” he said, “is activate it and throw it up, as high as possible.”
Fjord nodded, obeying without wasting any time. The die spun and he tossed it as high up as possible. It spun, glowing, then pulsed once in the air. When it activated, it was in a wave of pink that descended over the entire area then disappeared. A sudden thought came to Rometo’s mind and he looked back. As he had expected, he found Aiden’s attention focused on the die.
Since there were runes on the die, he was not surprised that someone known to have interests in enchantments would be curious. There was no [Enchanter] in the Order that Rometo knew that would not want to study the runes on the die.
“What did that one do?” he asked, looking at Fjord.
“Uhm, I get one random skill used by an ally within the field of effect that has not been attacked in the next four seconds.”
Rometo blinked. Fucking [Gambler]s.
This was technically cheating.
“And if you have none?” he asked.
“Then one of my skills is deactivated for the duration of the effect.”
Valdan turned away, laughing into his hand. He tried to smother it into a cough but he wasn’t fooling anybody.
Again, Rometo had only one thought. Fucking [Gambler]s.
They either lived to be unreasonably powerful or killed themselves. Still, the one thing that the [Gambler] class came down to was calculation. For Fjord to be powerful, he needed to have a brain that was always calculating in combat. He needed to know all the effects of the die while accounting for battle conditions that ensured all twelve effects would not work against him.
Rometo took a moment to think about how to teach that and found the task to be the closest thing to impossible.
So, he looked from Fjord to Zen and back. “What’s your level?” he asked Fjord.
“Twenty-nine.”
He looked at Zen. “Yours?”
“Twenty-two,” Zen answered.
“I see.” He held both hands out and summoned two items from his storage space. Two scabbards settled comfortably in both hands, and he held them out to both boys. “Have them.”
Each boy took one for themselves. They looked at the scabbards and Rometo knew that they understood the assignment. Still, he spelled it out.
“In order to train you,” he said. “I would need to know what you are currently capable of doing.”
“Should we not be tested on monsters, then?” Zen asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.
Rometo shook his head. “The leader of your group has proven in his history that he has a penchant of getting into trouble with people more than monsters. So, we will start with your abilities against humans, then go from there. Besides, you are more likely to die from a human than a monster.”
Fjord was nodding in agreement to that. Having been a poacher for a while, Rometo was not surprised that the boy agreed.
Zen looked skeptical.
“All humans can be malicious,” Fjord explained to Zen. “But not all monsters are malicious. A human can hold a grudge over a single action for decades. It doesn’t work the same way with monsters.”
“While you children do that,” Rometo turned and pointed at Aiden and Valdan, “I will indulge in knowing what the powerful members of your team are capable of. Sir Valdan.”
Valdan gave Aiden a look and Aiden shrugged. They exchanged very brief words and Valdan sighed before he approached Rometo.
Rometo approached him. “Arm yourself,” he commanded when they were barely halfway across the distance to each other.
[Dash] carried Rometo before Valdan fully registered the command. His aura flared out of him in waves projected forward. It halted Valdan’s approach, caused him to stiffen.
His hand came down on Valdan like a spear.
Aiden caught it before it landed, taking him by the wrist. His strain was restricted only to his eyes. On his lips was a polite smile while Valdan stood with swords of golden light hovering above his head, sweating as he struggled against Rometo’s aura.
That was interesting. Not many people knew to activate their manifesting skill to dispel the full weight of an aura attack stronger than them.
Then—Rometo looked down at Aiden—there was Aiden Lacheart. Not yet level two hundred, he was casually withstanding the full weight of the aura of someone above level two hundred and fifty as if it was just another regular day for him.
“Ready, Valdan?” Aiden asked, eyes still looking at Rometo.
Valdan drew his sword from its sheath. “Ready.”
“Ready, Rometo?” Aiden said with a smile.
Perhaps he had known that Rometo had intended on breaking the man’s shoulder in different places with that first strike. Perhaps not. This was the problem with Aiden Lacheart. Rometo couldn’t figure out what exactly he knew or didn’t know.
Rometo’s eyes moved away from Valdan and focused on Aiden with a new interest. Aiden’s eyes showed that he recognized it. Still, Rometo spoke.
“What say you, Aiden Lacheart.”