The following few days passed by relatively peacefully. At least, it was the closest to peace that Dharen’s new life could approximate. Dharen slowly accumulated increasing amounts of Contribution Points in the interim, often taking on quests with a few of the other warriors that Duende had selected.

That, along with the occasional friendly (and sometimes less-than-friendly, in the case of Anand) spar allowed him to learn some of the strengths of his temporary companions.

Riell, the victor of the advanced bracket, was a Seed of Uncertainty. While that sounded like a strange attunement for someone presumably so strong, Dharen soon learned the truth of her effectiveness. Fights against, and even alongside, Riell were chaos incarnate. Though Dharen had been unable to determine all of her abilities, he knew of at least two of them. The first was a Field of Uncertainty. While in a fight, she was able to keep this ability constantly activated. It turned the battlefield surrounding her into a realm of chaos; even thinking about it set his head pounding.

Dharen, having learned of a portion of her powers only recently, was still attempting to adjust to fighting by her side. He could only be thankful that it was by her side that he was fighting. She was a nightmare.

Still, it was much more relaxing to watch her work with you rather than against you. Dharen, along with Riell, Ethan, Beran, and Held, had chosen to undertake one last mission before the special quest to defeat the Awakened Nulzan was released. Anand had abstained, stating that he had his own training to undergo.

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Eradicate The Feyul Menace

Difficulty: Hard

Time Limit: N/A

Party Size: Up to 6

Reward: 2,000 Contribution Vouchers

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He watched as she stalked towards the enemies with a staggering confidence. Perhaps, once, she had been uncertain in truth. But now, she was anything but. Individuals each formed their own unique abilities, even while having the same Seeds as others. It was thought that an Awakened’s emotions and personality at the time of the triggering event were all taken into account and helped form the direction that their abilities took.

If that was true, Riell’s mind must have once been a truly chaotic place.

Riell reached her targets, a group of Feyul that growled at her with dangerously bared teeth. They were reptilian monstrosities that possessed prehensile tails that could be used with great maneuverability to impale their victims.

Dharen observed as one of the Feyul lashed out. A spiked tail lashed through the air, stabbing out with a force that any sane person would shy away from. But not Riell. Smiling wildly, she stepped in. As she did so, the other three Feyul launched attacks of their own.

But it was all for naught. Before the first attack even connected, Riell was gone.

Sharp tails smashed against one another with an uncomfortable screech, intersecting at the spot their target had previously occupied. For a moment, the Feyul looked at one another as if filled with confusion. While they did so, Riell appeared, falling from three feet above one of the Feyul. She held a dagger in her hand, and adroitly reacted to her sudden fall by repositioning into a downward thrust. She came down, landing hard, the momentum of her fall sending the blade smoothly through the monster’s scaled flesh.

The other Feyul reacted quickly to the sudden turn of events, all things considered. They pivoted, the nearest beast sending a swipe of its claws while the other sent its tail once again stabbing towards her.

But, as Dharen had learned, Riell’s battlefield was not so predictable.

Riell activated one of her many enchanted items. By dint of her highly effective skill set and long stay within the Fifth Floor, she had managed to accumulate a number of items to shore up her weaknesses. Unlike Dharen, one of her increased attributes was Wisdom. And with high Wisdom, along with other beneficial effects, came the ability to maintain many different enchantments with ease.

She threw up an arm, the bracer upon her right arm glowing as it took the slash of the creature’s descending claws. The bracer, imbued with the powers of a Seed of Protectiveness, took the slash smoothly. She twisted, using the momentum imparted by the blow to slip around the second beast’s assaulting tail. One hand splayed out, allowing her to brush her fingers against the first’s scales. As she did so, a disorienting coloration tinted the tips of her fingers. The hues shifted constantly, deviating from one moment to the next in a confusing manner.

Disorienting Touch, she had called it. Having experienced it personally while sparring, Dharen thought that disorienting was an understatement. After he had been affected, he had found his senses untrustworthy, uncertain. As if down became up, up became down. And just when he began to adjust to the sensation, it changed once more.

From an outside perspective this time, Dharen saw as the Touched Feyul stumbled and fell. Its limbs splayed out in every which way, unable to coordinate together properly. Leaving the helpless monster out of mind for the moment, Riell brought her attention to bear on the remaining beast. Having witnessed its group dwindle down with such alacrity, it turned to flee. As it bolted away, Riell’s Field of Uncertainty twisted reality once more.

Its desperate flight away from the woman turned into a charge as it shifted, appearing once more facing her. The creature impaled itself as Riell rapidly adjusted, placing her blade between herself and the beast before bracing firmly.

With a sickening squelch, the blade drove through the monster’s eye. It toppled, brought to death in a moment. Riell braced one hand against the dead Feyul’s heavily ridged brow, pulling out the weapon with a grunt of effort.

She then stalked over to the final living Feyul. Having finally regained its feet, it sent its prehensile tail whistling towards her. She continued forward without concern. The tail, brought off course by the effect of her Disorienting Touch, simply drove itself into the floor with a thud.

The beast mewled in panic, seeing its doom walking toward it and yet unable to do anything.

“Okay, we let you fight the group as you wished. Now, time to move on, yes?” Dharen asked as she finished off the final Feyul. As nonchalant as he sounded, he was quite impressed with the warrior woman’s abilities. It was no wonder that she was so formidable, with the abilities that she displayed. It wasn’t only her ability to interrupt the flow and planning of an opponent; it was also her uncanny speed of reaction to those changes. A key aspect of her ability was that she did not control the chaos that ensued. She only controlled whether her Field was active in the first place.

This made her performance even more impressive. Just before, it was not that she knew, previously, that she would suddenly appear in midair above her opponents. She simply had a mind that had always questioned her own reality. Thus, when something changed unexpectedly, she only had to adjust slightly to encompass the change. There was no fumbling in surprise, no hesitation. Of course, it helped that she had an obscene amount of Luck. When chaos tends to work in your favor, it becomes far easier to adjust to.

Dharen had learned that he suffered under the reverse effect. With his abysmal Luck attribute, every spar that he had engaged in with the unpredictable woman had been a nightmare. One moment, he would be a split second away from defeating her, and in the next he would be ten feet in the air and falling quickly. All while overbalanced from his own attack.

He had even tried to stay outside of the range of her field, throwing objects at her in order to prevent himself from being affected by the constant chaos that surrounded her. Yet, without fail, things became dire each time his projectiles came within ten feet of her. With the overwhelming difference between her Luck and his, most came right back at him. He had earned more than a few welts and bruises from glancing blows in the first few surprises. It was only his high Agility that had saved him from worse. The imbalance was great enough that he had yet to discover what her last ability was during their spars; he had never seen her use it. He knew she was likely somewhere around level twelve or thirteen, though, based on her high attributes.

Riel responded with a rakish grin. “Just trying to have some fun. Let’s go, ladies.”

Not to be outdone, Ethan, in his typical disgruntled fashion, shot back irritably. “Next one’s mine, I’ve got some frustrations to work out.”