Chapter 4 The Compound

The heavy thudding steps turned out to be Thrazk. His clawed fingers curled into a fist as he gently knocked on the door.

Elysia opened the door, immediately recognizing him despite only seeing him without his armor for a few seconds. She waved him inside while stealthily inspecting him. Bulging muscles rippled under shiny crimson scales as he bent his head to enter the cabin. Even without his armor, he gave off an imposing feeling, towering over two meters tall with hulking muscles.

While hunched against the ceiling, Thrazk gave a nod or respect to the sisters. Then his slitted red eyes landed on the couch currently occupied by Ione, who was staring at him with hunger.

Elysia waved her hand toward the couch. “Please sit down and make yourself comfortable.”

“No need. We won’t be staying long.”

Elysia glanced at the sisters, who appeared equally confused before questioning, “We?”

A broad smile formed on Thrazk’s scaly face, revealing sharp teeth. “Yes, we. I hear you require training and a proper weapon. I can’t have my dungeon diving partner unprepared, so I shall provide training.”

A certain city sized turtle flashed in her mind, causing Elysia to glare down at the floor. Her pride flared at the assumption she needed help, but she gritted her teeth, smothering an outburst.

After several seconds of awkward silence, Elysia reined in her annoying prideful instincts. She turned her attention to Thrazk with a friendly smile. “Sorry about that. I would love some help with training.”

Thrazk clapped his massive hands together in excitement, eliciting a wince from Elysia and a hiss from Ione at the sharp sound. “Excellent! If they won’t let me dungeon delve so close to the opening of Mezo, I’ll at least have some fun.” With a booming voice full of excitement, Thrazk announced, “Daesk and Drask of the Azure clan, I’ll be taking little Elysia off your hands for a while.”

Elysia bristled as she directed a glare at Thrazk. “Wait your turn. I need to commission weapons and armor from them.”

Daesk, the lighter scaled Chrotile, dipped her head in respect to Thrazk before speaking, “With honorable conqueror Thrazk’s help, we will design gear befitting an esteemed elemental such as yourself.”

Thrazk let out a chuckle. “No need to be formal. I’m not here in an official capacity. I only want to help polish a young talent.” He glanced down at the table covered in materials before adding, “I’ll handle testing little Elysia for weapon affinity. When we decide, I’ll have Urus inform you.”

With a tinge of annoyance, a heavy voice spoke in their heads. “Always abusing your station. One of these days, I’ll kick you off my shell.”

“We both know you won’t.” Thrazk shot back without pause.

Urus fell silent as the heavy presence retreated from their minds.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Ione pounced on Thrazk. But even without his armor, her teeth failed to puncture his scales on his ankle. Ione retreated with a whimper under the amused gaze of her target.

Before Ione could escape, Thrazk scooped her up, earning himself another bite attempt and ineffective scratches. While holding her in the crook of his left arm, he gave her head scratches, turning Ione to mush. A loud purr filled the air as Ione gave up any pretense of fighting back.

While continuing to pamper Ione, Thrazk turned his attention to Elysia, who was watching him with a tense posture. “Ready to head out?”

Elysia gave him a nod, but her eyes were locked on Ione, partially because of a need to protect, but mostly out of jealousy.

Understanding the elemental’s feelings, Thrazk set the loopy kitten on the couch before returning his attention to Elysia. “Your boat is a little too cramped for me, so please follow me.”

Thrazk turned to leave, followed by Elysia. She glared down at her purring traitor as she passed. Once outside, Thrazk straightened with a groan. With a powerful leap, Thrazk launched himself off Umbra onto the pier. Umbra rocked, but stabilized a moment later as the water solidified around her.

Egged on by the show of strength, Elysia sprinted across the deck before leaping into the air. Lacking the weight and force, Umbra didn’t budge as she landed with an ungraceful stumble on the pier. A moment later Ione followed, touching down on the pier with the expected grace of a cat.

Elysia’s face reddened, but she hid it behind her hair as she asked, “So, where are we going?”

With an almost malicious grin, Thrazk replied. “My clan’s training grounds.”

A shiver ran up Elysia’s spine, but her pride spiked once again. Her fear vanished in a moment, replaced with a resolute determination as she strutted toward Thrazk.

Thrazk nodded his head in respect to the sudden change before turning to walk down the pier into town. As he took the first left, Elysia followed with Ione on her heels tail and head proudly raised as they drew attention from everyone they passed.

Several minutes later, after taking a right, they entered a street filled with buildings built out of shades of red scale. Those they passed mirrored the buildings, as a majority of the Chrotile were from the

Crimson clan.

They continued on down the street for five minutes, nearing the end, which housed an imposing complex. Just before the complex, Thrazk took a left to pass through a gated courtyard.

As they passed, Elysia eyed the dozens of Crimson Chrotile running through drills or sparring with one another with many types of weapons or just their own claws. Thrazk continued on, paying no mind to those training around him, despite those who saw him stopping to bow.

After a minute of walking, Thrazk reached several basketball court sized arenas with Chrotile dueling one-on-one or in groups.

Elysia froze when her eyes landed on two Crimson Chrotile clashing at speeds her eyes couldn’t follow. Despite both combatants doubling her size, they moved with speed and grace beyond anything she had seen. They practically teleported into clashes with their swords in her eyes. The only sign they didn’t teleport was a subtle motion blur just before they clashed.

Thrazk stopped at the edge of the arena and performed a shallow bow before continuing on to a building just beyond the arenas.

Unable to resist her curiosity and awe, Elysia jogged to catch up to Thrazk before asking, “who were they? They were so fast! I couldn’t even follow their movements.”

After entering the building and closing the door, Thrazk chuckled. “That would be my clutch brother and his disciple. They love to show off their speed in front of new arrivals. I bet they heard we were coming and did an impromptu duel. Personally, I prefer focusing on strength and defense over speed and agility. What good would speed do for you when your enemy could swat you with one attack and survive anything you dish out?”

“So specializing is the way to go? I’ve been balancing my attribute so far.”

Before answering, Thrazk led Elysia to the center of an indoor arena devoid of others. “All routes have their uses, but yes, most prefer to specialize. Though most of us can’t shoot lightning from our fingertips. My clutch sister, for example, focuses her attributes on complimenting her elementalist nature.”

Elysia glanced at her 95 attribute points before asking, “what should I focus my attribute points on?”

Thrazk stretched his massive limbs out as he talked. “How should I know? Without seeing your status, I would just be guessing. On top of that, I don’t know the limitations of your body, unlike Chrotile.”

“Then why are we here? I thought you knew how to train me.” Questioned Elysia.

An excited expression took hold on Thrazk’s scaly face with a gleam of sadistic anticipation flashing in his red slitted eyes. “We are here to find out your limits.”

Unconsciously, Elysia took a step back but with nowhere to hide in the open tennis court sized room, her shoulders slumped as she gave into the inevitable. Upon giving in, her pride flared, causing her back to straighten as she made eye contact with Thrazk. “Where do we start?”

Without warning, Thrazk blurred toward her. A blink later, his massive scaly fist stopped a centimeter from Elysia’s nose. Elysia stumbled back several steps, propelled backward by the force behind the punch. Upon catching her balance several meters back, her mind finally caught up to her body, causing her to glare at Thrazk. “What the hell was that for?”

Instead of responding to Elysia’s comment, he listed his observations. “Adequate perception for her level but abysmal strength. Reaction time needs improvement as well.”

Elysia continued to glare up at Thrazk now with her hands on her hips. “You could’ve at least warned me. And yes, I know I’m weak.”

With a cheeky grin showing a little razor-sharp teeth Thrazk chuckled. “It’s not as fun if I warn you.” As if a switch flipped, he turned serious. “If you want to survive, you must improve your perception, at the very least. How will you attack with your lightning if you can’t even follow your target?”

This time, her pride didn’t flare, knowing he was right. “So you’re saying I should dump attribute points into perception?”

Thrazk nodded his head before speaking. “I would focus on perception as one of your main attributes, yes, but not the only one. With your small stature, I wouldn’t bother with strength beyond occasional surplus spending. However, the other four attributes have their merits for you.”

After a momentary pause to make sure he had her full attention, he continued. “I’m not sure what attribute scaling your race grants you, but if I were you, I would focus perception intelligence and dexterity with endurance as secondary. Perception for the reason I already explained, but just because you can follow the attack, that doesn’t mean you can process and react. That’s where intelligence and dexterity come in. I don’t know the theories your people have, but after extensive testing, we found intelligence improves mental processing speed while dexterity helps with reaction time, among other things.”

“Makes sense. My attribute scaling agrees with you. I only get .5% strength per attribute point.”

“Only!? Chrotile get 3%.” Blurted Thrazk before he once again scanned Elysia’s petite body. “On second thought, that makes sense. If I may ask, what is your attribute scaling?”

Elysia glanced at her status before answering, “.5% strength, 2% intelligence and dexterity with 3% perception and endurance.”

“3% endurance? Interesting. What about your current attributes?”

Her pride flared for a moment, but knowing he was only asking to help, she squashed it. “I’m currently 42 across-the-board.”

A whistle sound blew past Thrazk’s razor-sharp teeth. “Not bad for someone level ten on first evolution of the path. I only had 200 total attributes at your level.”

Elysia grinned as she added, “I have 95 available attribute points too.”

“What? How? How many attribute points do you get per level? I’ve never heard of someone having over 250 at your level.” Stuttered Thrazk, composure broken.

That was good to know. Maybe she could overcome her deficiencies by dumping attribute points.

As if reading her thoughts, Thrazk commented. “Even with your absurd amount of attribute points, I would still focus 75% of them on your perception, intelligence, and dexterity. A few extra attribute points won’t overcome the scaling and what I’m assuming is a lack of base strength.”

“Yeah, I understand. I doubt I’ll ever win a contest of strength. As for your question, I get 10 free attribute points per level.”

No longer surprised, Thrazk nodded his head in respect. “Excellent class choice. 10 attribute points per level alone would make any class worth it. I only got 6 from my first evolution and 10 from my third.”

His excitement returned a moment later as he announced, “Now let’s move onto trying out weapons for you.”