《The Timebender》18. Meditation
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Adrian wanted to increase his mastery with time perception, or more exactly, he needed it. He did have total control over the perception of [Ultimum Celeritas], but Adrian couldn’t activate it by reflex. If he could do so, he could have avoided, or at least, partially dodge Aby’s blow last night. Even if that was a mundane situation, Adrian was sure he could use it later. Now that he had lost [Battle Timing], he only had reflexes like normal people, just that they are a little faster.
His time perception alteration let him accelerate or decelerate his own flow of time, but Adrian knew that was only to his mind. He did move faster than other people, more than double the speed, but that didn’t matter to the universal constant that was light speed. He should have a trillion levels before he could reach that speed. And nothing said that he would just disintegrate once he reached that speed. Maybe Velocitas passive would nullify that, but Adrian had already chosen the path of the Time Weaver.
Following the data from the [Celeratio] when he was level one, he did obtain a 100% speed boost every 10 [Celeratio]. If that was true (which it sounded too good to be it), next level he would have over 20 [Celeratio] and be 200% faster than when he was summoned. Adrian’s hypothesis was based on pure speculation, he had no real way of measuring it other than his gut feeling. His speculation was interrupted by the over the top Dale’s yawn.
“Argh!” Dale made a weird sound while laying at the ground. “I slept so well.”
“Jesus, what the hell are you? A velociraptor?” Adrian asked him while he was sitting on a rock.
“Jesus, apparently.” Dale joked as he got up.
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“I am going to murder you.” Adrian said in response with a deadly gaze.
“Go on. I can resuscitate.” Dale affirmed.
“Oh shit, it’s true” Adrian remembered Dale’s [Tarot] card effect. “So, you can technically be Jesus.”
“Just what I said.” Dale shrugged his shoulders.
The rest of the party woke up a bit later, Axel and Aby being the last ones as they had to watch duty. Everyone had their last food rations without chatting. They cleaned their faces with the river’s water to be totally awake, and then Kayle talked.
“Then, who’s going to the city?” She asked while swinging happily his staff side to side.
“We leave it to luck” Everyone looked at Dale when he spoke. “The idea doesn’t seem to please you.”
“Playing a game that will be rigged from the start? Yeah, I love them” Aby told him sarcastically. “Even then, what game are we going to play? Coin toss? With what coin?”
“That’s a good point” Dale commented. “Rock, paper, and scissors?”
“We already said no.” Mike said. He was not letting away his opportunity to go to a city from fantasy books.
“Axel should stay here with the two that will remain, are you okay with that?” Adrian asked to Axel. He nodded in affirmation. “That leaves Aby, Kayle, Dale, and Mike. I don’t want that two rangers stay here, so I suggest the staff users and the ranged attackers have a rock, paper, and scissors match.”
“But…” Mike did cute eyes while looking at Adrian’s. He just shrugged his shoulders.
The result of the matches was Aby and Dale as winners. The second one wasn’t that surprising as literally every part of his build helped him.
“The game was rigged from the start.” Dale said maliciously.
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“Yeah, we saw that.” Axel said while giving Aby and Dale the cloaks.
“So, what are we going to do?” Aby asked Adrian once she put on the cloak.
“We are going to register you two in the guild,” Adrian explained. “It probably won’t be automatic, and we would need to take a starter quest, but we are in no hurry.”
“Excepting the need for a clean bed and warm food.” Kayle said deadpanned.
“Yeah, except that.” Adrian responded.
“Oh, before I forget.” Aby interrupted everyone. “I got a [Tarot] card while on my watch.”
“How did you obtain it?” Mike was more interested in the trigger condition than the card’s content.
“I was… meditating, I guess?” She said doubtfully.
“You guess?” Dale questioned.
“Yes,” Aby confirmed her words. “I had my mind in blank while on duty when suddenly a Record message popped up.”
“What card was?” Once again, Mike had more interest in the Tarot than the effects.
“[The Hermit’s Meditation]” Aby responded and then started to explain. Adrian felt once again the synesthesia, even if it just was the name of the card. “I don’t think it is necessary to recite the Record message, but basically, it’s a basic [Tarot] title like Axel’s and lets me gain mental stats while meditating.”
“Neat.” Adrian added. “Do you know what the [Title] refers to mental stats?”
“No, I can only guess.” Aby told him. “I am sure that [Procesa] and [Experenta] are mental stats, but considering there are three physical stats, I think there should also be three mental ones.”
“Then which is the last one?” Dale asked.
“That’s the question.” Aby said. “[Atravesta] boosts persuasion and [Voluntat] does the same with mental resistance. Both are ‘mind-related’, and even if [Voluntat] looks like the right one, [Atravesta] is next to the mental stats.”
“Well,” Adrian started. “Time will tell.”
“Was that a joke?” Dale asked Adrian.
“Perhaps,” He evaded the question and moved away from the group. “Let’s go! Czecheri awaits us!”
“What about the ‘We are in no hurry statement’?” Aby asked him.
“I can’t hear your complains!” Adrian cried to her; he was already fifty meters away.
“Yes, yes you can!” Aby shouted back at him and then sighed. “Let’s go Dale.”
The group of Adrian, Dale, and Aby marched towards Czecheri in order to start the last two adventurer’s carrier. Adrian thought that it may be okay to go everybody to the city as none was alarmed by his glasses, but he decided otherwise as having a big group could highlight unnecessarily, yet.
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